Rolling Girl
by ShadowOak
Summary: Rated 'M' for language and violence. If you were born to fight, your spirit will never truly die. Even if you are lost and forgotten in your misery, a simple spark could reignite the burning essence of a warrior. KiddxOC
1. Chapter 1

Blue eyes hid behind closed eyelids. Soft feminine snores escaped chapped pink lips of a sleeping human. Her lanky form dangled loosely over the thick tree branch that was her shelter for the past several days. Her face contorted for a moment, then relaxed. Not even a moment later, she scrunched up her face again, a foul odor shooting into her nostrils and to the back of her throat. She half sneezed and awoke from her deep slumber, groggy still. She didn't bother to move from her sleeping position just yet as her eyes were still adjusting to the brightness of the midday sun. From her laying position on the branch, she could faintly see a black smoke rising in the sky. Figuring that the nearby village might've accidentally set fire to one of the houses, perhaps not completely dousing a campfire, she closed her eyes once more and let herself drift off.

Eustass Kidd was utterly bored. He sat on a stump, hunched over watching his handy work burn their pathetic buildings to the ground. His first-mate, "Massacre soldier" Killer, walked over to his Captain casually, blood splatters in various places of his body.

"You don't seem to be enjoying yourself, Kidd," He stated.

"Ch. This is the second pathetic island we've landed on here in the new world. What is it with these weak people?"

"Hm, perhaps we're just unlucky. Or lucky one way or another," Killer folded his arms over his chest.

"Ugh!" Kidd ran both his hands back and forth through his hair, vigourously out of frustration. He stood and stormed off towards the edge of the forest.

"Where are you going?"

"Seeing if this shithole has anything better to offer!" Killer let out a heavy sigh and cracked his neck to relieve some stress.

For the second time that day she was rudely awakened. Her ears rang and her head pounded with irritation as someone cursed and stomped around the forest as loudly as they possibly could. She gave a short sigh and assumed no one would be able to see her at the height she was on the tree and remained there, resting.

Kidd froze in his place. He'd been making so much noise, he almost didn't hear it. He looked around the area, and seeing no one, he huffed in irritation, thinking to himself that he must've been going crazy. He plopped himself on the soft grass and leaned back on his hands. He closed his eyes and let his head roll back, taking in a moment of comfort as a gentle breeze rolled by.

"MmmM,"

Kidd's eyes snapped open. Since his head hung back, looking up at the sky, he laid eyes on a sleeping figure in the tree above him.

"The fuck..." He stood up and backed away a few feet, in order to get a proper look. A young woman graced his eyes. Her figure, though lacking any healthy body fat or muscle, struck him as lithe as she lay on her stomach, one arm underneath her head as a makeshift pillow and the other left to dangle. She wore nothing but a fitted turqioise tank top and torn shorts. A long leg folded itself across the branch, preventing the lower half of her body from falling as she let the other bare foot dangle carelessly. "Oi," He called lazily. She stirred slightly, but didn't move any further, "Oi, woman!" He got an angry grunt in reponse to his calling. He finally got fed up and kicked the tree, knowing just from a glance that she didn't have a single piece of metal on her to yank her down with.

"Kyaa!" The girl landed flat on her back and groaned. With difficulty she sat up, rubbing her back, "Owww~ What was that for? I was only sleeping!" Her royal blue eyes met his dark maroon ones. Now that she was at ground level, he could see the strangeness of her hair. It was a natural dark brown color at the roots and reached her mid back, but the bottom half was dyed an aqua blue color and held back in a hairclip. She gasped and he smirked at her response. Did she finally realize who she was talking to? "I swear I haven't taken anything from the village today!" She blurted.

"What," His eye twitched with annoyance.

"Y-you _are_ from the village right? I haven't taken anything today. I-I've been sleeping," She pointed at the branch she'd previously inhabited.

"I'm not from that shit village," He answered her flatly.

"Oh..." She cleared her throat, "Then why'd you...ya know...wake me an' stuff," She scratched her arm nervously, averting her gaze from his harsh glare.

"Who are you,"

"Huh? But you didn't answer my-" She gagged and choked, his hand suddenly encircling her neck and squeezing.

"You don't ask the fuckin' questions, bitch! Now answer me!" He squeezed again tighter this time, sure to leave a bruise, then loosened his grip just enough to allow her to speak.

She coughed at first, "U-Umi! Lazulius Umi!"

"What are you doing here if you're not apart of that village,"

"I-I'm just a stowaway! I just board random people's ships and travel," She struggled to breath for a moment, "travel to different islands that way,"

Their eyes met again and this time Umi didn't look away. Something in his eyes made feelings hidden deep within her swell with longing. Precious dreams and emotions she kept locked away for years bubbled to the surface. The long dead desire to fight the world, reanimated itself spreading through her bones and sending shivers throughout her body.

Kidd rose his brow at her sudden change of aura. He could almost feel the familiarity of murderous intent rise within her, but it was too weak to challenge him. He was almost surprised when she grabbed at his wrist and squeezed in an attempt to get him to let go. A faint smirk tugged at the corner of his lips; A chuckle rumbled in his chest, bearly audiable at first, but soon became a thunderous roar of maniacal laughter. This woman was definately amusing! She was the best thing in the last two islands! She was the only thing that dared to fight back at him! _**Her!**_ An underweight, starving, incapable of combat, woman! This was absolutely rich!

"Tell ya what, woman," His laughs died down into chuckles, "You lifted my mood! And for that I'll give you a head start,"

"Wha-"

He roughly squeezed her neck again, "Don't ruin it, damnit!" Once he knew she would stay quiet, he continued, "Our log pose is going to set sometime later tonight when we're probably going to be passed out. So naturally we're going to leave by noon tomorrow. If you can stay alive and avoid me and my crew until then, we'll leave this island without actually killing you," His smile widened at the thought of his new game. He tossed her carelessly on the floor a few feet from him, "Now go. You've got twenty minutes before we start runnin' after you,"

Umi, in the middle of her coughing fit, rose to her feet and bolted away from him, not daring to look back. Even as she ran further and further away from him, she couldn't escape the memory of his cold laughter, ringing in her ears. She nimbly made her way to a deeper part of the forest, easily dodging large roots and using low branches to help her hop over obstacles. Even after this, his game and the rough way he's treated her, she couldn't fight the urge of her impulsive thoughts. For a brief moment she wondered what it'd be like to fight along side him, facing an army.


	2. Chapter 2

Kidd walked out of the forest with a big grin on his face. He didn't expect much from her, but she was definatly going to ease his boredom. He walked past all the ash and warm embers still smoldering, past the burnt and bloody bodies lying about, and walked right up to Killer.

"Hm? You seem to be in a much better mood, Captain," Killer noted.

"Yeah," He nodded and turned to face the rest of his crew, "Listen up! There's a woman running around in that forest! I want her found and brought to me before noon, tomorrow!"

"What for, Captain?" A man with spikey black hair and a purple vest asked.

"I'm going to kill her that's why!" He shouted back, slightly irritated, "The last two islands left me pretty pissed off. She's just a bit of entertainment," He smirked and addressed his crew once more, "Now go get her,"

"Aye Captain!" They all shouted in unison and bolted off through the dense foliage.

Killer stayed behind with his Captain, "And how exactly do you know that she'll provide this entertainment for you?"

"I can tell. Now shut up and go find out for yourself,"

Umi ducked as a bullet wizzed by her head and instead of fearing for her life, she was angry. He had lied to her! He clearly said twenty minutes, which must've been another way of saying, 'whenever I get back to my crew and finish telling them what's up!' She resolved that when she survived, and she would, she'd give him a well deserved punch to the face!

In the blink of an eye a man with a mask and blond hair twice the length of her own caught up beside her. They made brief eye contact( from what she could tell anyway) before he took a swipe at her with the blade at the end of his gauntlets. She ducked, earning her another swipe, this time she launched herself far to the left, away from her current attacker. He was caught off guard for a moment, not expecting her to be so nimble and battle ready. Kidd definately picked an interesting target, but now that he knew what to expect from her, there wasn't a chance in hell she'd be able to escape them from this point forward.

Killer lept after her, lifting his blade above his head, ready to finish her. She stood her ground until the last minute and backflipped. Killer was getting slightly irritated at her evasive nature, even though he expected it from the beginning. He just didn't expect her to be this good at dodging. They faced eachother, losing the other crew members in the excitement of the chase. Killer was thrown off yet again when she decided to charge at him. Did this girl _want_ to die? He rushed forward to meet her. Her fist clenched and rose to punch him. Killer fell for the feint attack , but recovered just in time as she lifted her right leg. An electrical screech of a buzz saw peirced her ears.

"Ngh!" She clenched her teeth in a grunt of pain as he left a deep gash on her lower thigh. She hopped back a few meters and winced at her newly aquired wound. She hadn't expected his weapon to spin like that. It was definately beyond her current ability to defeat this man. She glared at him from their distance and began to sprint towards a denser part of the forest.

Killer let her run off, knowing he'd be able to track her later with a wound like that. Kidd walked up beside him with his usual smirk.

"She is indeed interesting. I admit to being wrong," Killer looked at the dripping blood on his blade, "I'm going to assume you saw all that,"

"Yeah. She's definately got some fight in her. But with a wound like that on her leg, she won't get very far now," He released his words with a sigh, "I'm a little disappointed things only lasted this long though,"

Killer eyed his captain with a mild curiousity.

Umi sat crouched on a top branch of a tree tending to her wound. She hadn't learned the usues of most of the native plants yet, so the most she could do was tear the lower half of her tank top and use that as a bandage. Even after she wrapped it, the wound continued to bleed and soak through. She cursed to herself,realizing how deep it was, she would definately need stitches.

She huffed some hair out of her face and looked at her surroundings. She heard the ravens tell of dawn's settling. She breathed a sigh of relief. They'd need to make camp soon, or brave a dark forest filled with carnivorous nocturnal creatures. Umi decided she was safest in the branch she was in. It was high enough that the lower branches gave her cover, but just low enough to jump down with minor recoil to her leg and make a quick get away. It was starting to get colder with the rising moon, but making her own campfire now would just be suicide. She might as well send up a flare gun to alert them of her position.

'_Would definately save me the effort of building a fire_,' she though sarcastically to herself. She decided to sleep upright against the tree that night mainly for her leg's sake, but in such a position she'd be half awake and alert enough to foreign noises.

Her breathing calmed and her tense muscles spasmed into relaxation. It didn't take long for her exhausted body to rid itself of the last of her adrenaline. She fell asleep within minutes.

A small 'thud' alerted Umi. The branch she rested upon trembled slightly from added weight. Her eyes snapped open and there on the branch was none other than the masked blond man with the spinning blades. He charged at her, but she rolled off the branch before he could slit her throat earning him an embedded weapon in the thick tree trunk. She heard him mumble a curse as she fell on the floor in a crouching position to cushion the landing. Before she could recover a man well over six and a half feet thrusted a trident in her direction. She skillfully dodged each stabbing motion, backing up further into an unknown direction. While still fending off this new enemy, another could be seen from the corner of her eye. She turned her attention briefly towards the other man and was glad she did. He inhaled deeply and opened his mouth, spewing deadly flames at her.

"Shit!" She ducked and tumbled to the side, rolled to her feet and darted off in one swift motion, before either could prepare another attack. Umi put some good distance between them and felt a bit more confident in her survival rate. Just as the thought crossed her mind, a burly man of almost inhuman size came at her from the side. He laced his fingers together and rose his arms high in the air, ready to strike her as such. She moved out of the way just as he brought his fists down, but she didn't take his muscles into account. Even if she had, such brute strength seemed nearly impossible. Then again this was the new world after all. The brutish man ended up striking the ground, causing the earth to crack beneath her and she stumbled to keep her balance as she continued to hop away from the crumbling terrain.

Umi panted heavily and felt her wound begin to bleed once more. The large man advanced on her slowly and she backed up in response. She was about to take another step backwards, but realized her mistake and jerked her foot away from the cold water. She glanced behind her and saw a wide river, more than likely deep, since she failed to see the bottom. She turned her attention back to the man cornering her. The other two from before had easily caught up and stood beside him. She glared defensively. Suddenly five more men appeared from the bushes one by one, among them was the blond man with the mask. She gulped nervously at the sudden overwhelming amount of opponents. Lastly the wild red-haired man from yesterday made his appearance, grinning at her.

"Looks like you lost," He chuckled. Umi looked back at the river and to where it would carry her. Sure enough it lead to a cliff, most likely a steep drop with jagged rocks waiting for her at the bottom. But the chance of her coming out alive from that fall was much more probable than staying here with them. "Go ahead," He challenged her, "If you throw yourself off that waterfall then there's really no point in chasing you any further. And you don't have any devil fruit abilities right? So you if you came out alive you could probably just swim away without us knowing if you're alive or not,"

His tone sounded condecending, as if not only challenging her to jump, but her pride as well! Her eyes changed from fear-sticken to rage-filled. Her shaking palms clenched into fists. She stood proudly, back straight, no longer half hunched in a defensive posititon. The entire crew, including their captain, rose an eyebrow or perked up from their lazy poses.

"I won't jump," She answered unwaveringly.

"Oh? You seemed so unsure before," He took a few steps ahead of everyone else, earning him a spot barely two feet away to her left,"What made you change your mind?"

Blue eyes met maroon in heated glare, "I'm no coward!" She spat, "I won't die with my tail between my legs!" The captain began to laugh with amusement at her resolve, "Besides," She smirked and continued as he struggled to control his laughter, "It'd be a blow to my pride if I were to go down without landing a single blow on the captain!" Before he could react to her statement she moved forward and punched him something fierce, hitting his right cheek with her fist. His eyes were wide with shock, not expecting her to be gutsy enough to punch him.

Umi smirked as she sent him flying into the river, satisfied with her final efforts.

"Captain!" All the men yelled at once, panic clear in their voices. Umi looked at them, confusion written across her face.

"Stupid woman!" The masked man yelled at her, "He's a devil fruit user!"

. . .

A lightbulb went off in her head and her face deadpanned in an epic doom-like aura, "H-How the hell would I know that!" She yelled back, "I've never seen anything weird!" She paused,"Except maybe his face..."

She looked over, coming out of her stupor, and saw some people struggling to take off their boots and socks. They were taking too long. The longer they took to save him, the less chance they have of retrieving their captain alive. Umi sighed and took a deep breath before diving in after him.

The crew froze..."Did she..."A man with short and spikey brown hair, a green swirl tattoo on his right shoulder was the first to speak up, "Did she just jump in after him?"

No one could answer, still in their own shock.

Umi looked around. Her guess was spot on, for the river was swollen and deep with water. She found her target and swam over to him, partially riding the current to hurry her along. To her surprise he was still conscious, struggling for air. She grabbed hold of his head and connected their lips, forcing air into his lungs.

Kidd was honestly shocked. First she actually managed to punch him and send him into the rapids and now she was saving him? She should've been gloating and grinning with joy that she was able to get away, assuming that his crew would be fussing over him too busy to go after her. He clutched her arms as she began to kick upwards.

Her head broke the surface first, gasping for breath. She struggled to pull him up. He was heavy enough to begin with, but his waterlogged coat and boots didn't help her any. She managed to pull his head above the water and kept his arm draped over her shoulder.

"Heeee~eey! Woman!" One of the men waving on the bank caught her attention, "Catch!" The crew reluctantly agreed amongst one another to pull her in if she resurafaced with their captain. Umi grabbed the rope with her free hand and wrapped it around her wrist several times, when she was sure it wouldn't loosen from her grip, she tugged, signaling she was ready to be pulled in.

The crew hauled them in, grabbing Kidd and leaving Umi to struggle up the bank herself. Kidd coughed and hacked up the water in his lungs onto the dirt, next to Umi who was currently lying on her back and catching her breath. His breathing slowed to a less erratic pace. He turned his head and stared harshly at her. Finally pushing himself up from the ground, he stepped over her body, blood beginning to mix in with the water that dripped from her clothes.

He roughly grabbed her by the front of her tank top, exposing more of her cleavage, but he was too angry to be aroused, "What the hell was that?"

After Umi had punched him, she decided she was at peace with the thought of dying. The moment she jumped in to save him, she knew he would only turn and kill her in return(perhaps swiftly as a merciful act). When she got them to safety, she was utterly exhausted. There was not a shred of fight left in her body; the adreneline taking a toll on what little muscle she did have.

But the moment he viciously grabbed her, without a hint of greatfulness, she felt a reserve of energy zap her back to life. The fire in his eyes gave her the edge back to her blue orbs. She could feel her heart pick up its pace, doubling her pulse and a heat spread throughout her body. She gripped his fist, pulling herself up to a standing position, "Well you're _welcome_, you ungrateful bastard!"

"Don't avoid my question! Why did you do that? You could've gotten away! You could've lived just a bit longer!" He was right. She might've lost them for good if she hadn't done what she did. She knew her answer, but would she really be so willing to share it? A rough shake brought her attention back to him, "Answer!" Why not, she mused, she was going to be dead soon anyway. Might as well let her last thoughts be known.

Just as he was about to yell in her face again she yelled her own reply, "Because I needed you!"

An awkward pause filled the area. The crew stood frozen in shock, Kidd's eyes went wide. Suddenly everything sounded so far away; the river, the birds, the rustling of leaves, everything.

"W-what?" Kidd finally managed to spit out, "The hell do you mean!"

"It's fine if you don't understand, but I'll tell you since you're so insistant," Her tone calmed, "All I ever did with my life is run and hide. If I fought, it was because I so desperately needed something. I never knew..." Her eyes began to water and she swallowed the lump in her throat, "I never knew what a shit existence that was! I never knew running looked so pathetic until you came along!" She gripped onto his wrist tighter, still gripping her shirt, "When you found me and told me to play this game with you, something clicked in my head. I don't know how to explain it, but...I want to fight..." She began to slowly look up and gazed deep into his eyes, "No...It's not just that...When I see you I have an uncontrolable desire to fight back at everything else! I saved you because if you really died, then these feelings I have would just be a waste of my time! If I just _let_ you die then things would go back to the way they were for me and I don't want that ever again!"

Then it happened. Killer was the only one observant enough to catch it, as small a detail it was and in the short time it appeared, but he saw something in Kidd that his best friend hadn't done since their boyhood; and even then it was incredibly rare.

Eustass Kidd blushed.

Killer wanted to laugh, but bit his lower lip painfully to keep from ruining the mood. He didn't know if the girl was _that_ naive or bold, but her little speech ended up sounding more like a love confession. He guess the former of the two options, since the girl kept her serious and burning look without faultering once. That thought aside, he found her to be quite an unusual character. A moment ago, she seemed lifeless(perhaps tired from their 'game') but the moment his Captain yanked her from the dirt, she sprung back to life. _'Like throwing a fish back in the water...'_ He smirked to himself.

Kidd, figuring he misinterpreted her confession, recovered and mulled over her words a bit, "So you want to fight..."

"Yes!" She frowned at him. She hated repeating herself.

"Heh...haha...AHAHAHA!" Umi gave him a confused look and shivered in his grip. He calmed to small chuckles, "Listen up, woman! I have no room on my ship for weaklings! So if you want to keep fighting from here on out, you better toughen up or you'll die before we reach the next island!"

"Huh?" She blurted out bluntly.

He released his hold on her shirt and she fell to the floor with a small 'plop', not paying attention to her balance in her confusion, "Heat over there will stitch you up when we get back to the ship. We don't have an official medic, but he knows how to patch people up just fine,"

"Huh?" She repeated her previous statement.

The crew smirked at her slow uptake of the situation, granted their Captain never formally asked her to join.

"Lets move out! The log pose is long set, and I want off this shit-hole!"

"Aye, Captain!" Most of his crew shouted and began to follow him back in the direction of the beach.

"Wait! What just happened?" Umi stood up and began to hobble after them.

The man with the trident helped her to her feet and answered, "Captain has chosen you to become a Kidd Pirate," The crew, more or less didn't really care what kind of company their Captain decided to keep, woman or not, but they each held their tongue over their very different opinions of her.

Umi was in the back of the group, limping along and, for a moment, allowed a warmth to envelope her body. She almost felt like crying again, but out of happiness and relief this time. She held it in, not wanting to seem weaker than they probably thought of her. After a long journey back to the docks, just before she walked up the plank to the ship, she vowed to follow this red-haired man to the ends of the Earth even if it meant her demise. Not just because he allowed her to leave the island with her life, but because he was offering her a chance to experience what it's like to truely live.

She proceeded forward, her head held high, eyes filled with determination, and a newfound desire to explore the world with these men.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, Folks! Thank you for reading this far! This is an extra long chapter as a reward! I'll explain a little more about it at the end. I apologize for the condition of the previous chapters, I'm still getting used to working the newer features of Fanfiction. So from this point forward there will now be appropriate breakers in the time jumps! I originally had a line of hyphens to separate time skips or scene chances, but I didn't realize that they wouldn't show up on the uploading of the document. **

**Thanks again all who reviewed and subscribed it's very much appreciated and helps me to write chapters faster! Right now I'll update a new chapter every Monday anytime between 12am-5pm because if you work or have school, Mondays are always hardest to start so I've taken it upon myself to make things just a little bit better! **

**I do not own one piece! Umi is 100 percent my own character! Please enjoy!**

* * *

Umi hissed between her teeth inwardly feeling every pin-prick sting of the needle weave through the wound on her thigh. The wound Killer gave her was extensive. It reached from the front part of her leg and trailing down in a daigonal pattern to the lower half of her inner thigh. She guessed the length to be roughly about a good six inches, which was seemingly too big a cut for her small body. The man known as 'Heat' offered no words of comfort as he patched her up as efficently as he could with all her hissing and squirming. She recognized him as the man who spewed fire from his mouth and, truth be told, his appearance didn't alleviate her discomfort any. She found him to be intimidating with his permanant stitches plastered on nearly every spot of his face and hoped that the stitches he was giving her wouldn't forever attatch themselves to her leg.

"There," He huffed, his long silvery hair slightly frazzled. Treating this woman was definately marked down as a chore from this point forward.

Umi let out a sigh of relief, leaning back on her hands. The tall man with the trident and strange one piece cloak, that Umi noted she would definately have to tease him about in the future, entered the room that was loosely dubbed at the 'med bay' with only one plain bed and a small desk in the corner. The Kidd Pirates failed to initiate an official doctor to their crew, so the room was left bare and mostly unused. He peaked over curiously at Heat's handy work.

"Hm? Heat, did you remember to disinfect it?" Umi deadpanned, the whites of her eyes showing nothing but utter horror.

"Oh," Was his only comment. He reached over to a cupboard and pulled out an old bottle of whiskey.

Umi came to her senses, "No wait-"

* * *

Kidd lazily gazed out into the ocean in the direction they set sail in, leaning over the ship.

"ARGH! YOU FUCKING SADASTIC ASSHOLE!" He looked up with interest, knowing already who it was considering she was the only female on his ship. Sighing he pushed himself off the rail and walked into their 'med bay'.

He stood frozen at the scene. Umi sat on the sick bed, her limbs limp at her sides, lifeless. Her head hung back, mouth wide open as a metaphorical ghost wiggled out of her mouth and hovered. He snickered, "What happened to you?"

Wire cleared his throat and answered for her, "Heat forgot to disinfect the wound before he began. So we just grabbed a bottle of whiskey and splashed her leg with it,"

"Hm..." Kidd looked over to Umi, who was still in shock from the sudden burst of pain. Her clothes looked old and showed off too much of her smooth and pale skin for her own good. Not that he minded, but it could definately cause some problems on his ship given enough time. He didn't know how long it would take until they reached the next island and he knew they would all be a bit...restless, him included, "Woman. Come," He turned around and exited the room.

Umi perked up and hobbled close behind him without question, not even at the manner in which he ordered her to follow. He led her up a flight of stairs, which she hopped up with minor difficulty, "Where're we going, Captain?" She asked innocently as he reached the top of the steps waiting for her to catch up to him.

"Just hurry up," He grumbled.

"Yes, Captain!" She picked up her pace and joined him on the upper part of the deck where the captain's quarters resided. They walked through the door to his office where Killer and another man waited. She walked in with caution in her posture, knowing that Killer could indeed outmatch her. She recognized the second man vaguely as she had heard Heat call him by the name of 'Slash'.

Slash, she thought was an intimidating character to her own opinion, more so than her Captain or Killer because he always kept his arms folded and glared her down with his steely grey eyes whenever she hobbled near him. His black hair was short, but long enough to allow him to style it in greasy spikes. He wore a purple vest that showed off his biceps and collarbone, and underneath that were two different styles of white shirts that covered up the rest of his torso. He wore dark blue jeans with a studded belt that doubled as both a holster for a gun and a long dagger. But his looks wasn't what intimidated Umi. What scared her was that no matter how she greeted him or smiled in his direction, his expression remained unchanged and he never spoke to her. He never muttered a word or scoffed in her presence. She was fightened of him because he remained unpredictable to her. She didn't know anything about him or his actions and therefore couldn't figure out how to present herself around this person.

"Slash," Kidd's voice inturrupted her thoughts, "Gather some clothes between the crew and find her some pants and a shirt that might fit,"

He nodded and began to walk out of the room, passing Umi without a so much as a side glance. An ominous shiver ran down her spine.

"Girl," Killer was the one to pull her back to reality this time, "You said you would stowaway on different ships, right? How long have you been traveling in the new world?"

"Um...I'm not so sure, but...probably just a little longer than a year," She pinched a blue lock between her thumb and index finger, frowning at the texture.

Kidd rolled rolled out a map and set his log pose, with the three different needles pointing in near opposite directions, on the desk, "Tell me what you know about the next islands."

Umi limped closer to get a better look and glanced back and forth between the los pose and the map, "Lets see...Well the first needle is pointing to an island called 'The Mourning Swamp',

"'Morning swamp?'" Kidd raised an eyebrow, "The fuck kinda name is that?"

"_Mourning_," She corrected, "M-o-u, not 'm-o-r'. Anyway I've never visited that island personally, but I hopped up on a ship full of people that just got back from that place. It didn't sound pretty and most of them were mumbling to themselves and crying in corners. I couldn't see them recovering to continue sailing very far so I ditched them at the next port they came to. But anyway from what I could overhear anyway the island is haunted with corpses coming back to life and attacking people. When we arrived at the next island, I asked someone about it. Apparently it used to be a kingdom with a very greedy king. He died and cursed the whole island to protect his stash, which is why the corpses attack people and why people travel to the island in the first place," She shrugged and continued,

"The second choice you have is an uninhabited island with dense foliage and a good amount of poisonous plants. To be honest, it was kinda fun exploring that one, but since your ship doesn't have a doctor, you might want to stay away from it. I lived because I found a doctor and a crew nice enough to help me, so now I have an immunity to most of the species. Other than that, there's no people or base of any sort, so you can't really restock supplies," She paused for a breath. It's been a long while since she was able to talk to people for such an extended period of time and was beginning to feel a bit flush. She hated being in the spotlight.

"This last choice is an island with a port and a pretty big town. They'll have a nice amount of supplies and such, but I'd suggest not getting violent with them. The entire town is known for their unusual fighting style. It's called Riotatsu island and the people of the town by the docks used to be enslaved into making large buildings and statues. They figured out a method of being able to freely practice their fighting skills without alerting their masters. They created a form they call 'tanzen' which means 'dance'. It looks like a weird indiginous form of dancing, but it's actually kinda impressive in combat. I think this crew would come out more frustrated than satisfied after picking a fight with them,"

Before either of the could add their own comments, Slash had come back with a plain looking white shirt and a shaggy pair of jeans, loosely dangling from his left hand. He held out the change of clothes to Umi while turning his head away, as if she smelled of something rotten. As soon as she reached out to grab the clothes, he released them from his hand without making sure she actually had them. She fumbled for a second, but managed. He walked back out, hands in his pockets.

Umi heard Killer sigh and without much thought, she began to place the shirt over her tank top. "It's a bit big, but I guess it works," She smiled. Kidd's eye twitched and Killer looked away in embarassment. The plain t-shirt did exactly the opposite of their intentions. Even his smallest crew member was nearly twice her body mass. The collar of the shirt drooped partially over left shoulder, exposing her skin with a suggestive strap that was her tank top. She attempted to fix the long sleeves and falling collar several times in their presence, but finally decided to give up on the matter for the time being. The length of the shirt, was an inch away from completely coveing her shorts.

Kidd never would've guess that hiding her overly exposed skin would add to the burning desire of having a female onboard. He grit his teeth together, clenched his fists and yelled, "Get out! Get out and put those goddamn pants on already!"

Umi, startled at the sudden outburst, scrambled out of the room in a hurry, shutting the door behind her. She breathed a sigh of relief and wondered what she'd done to make the her Captain burst out like that.

* * *

Dinner time with the Kidd Pirates wasn't what she expected it to be. She knew just how rowdy people could get at meal time, having been on _many_ different ships over the past few years. But the manners of this particular crew were...barbaric to say the least. Not that she was really one to talk. She ate without wiping her face like most men, and even gave deep and unexpected burps on occasion. She could hold her alcohol better than most pirates. She could even be seen picking her teeth and scratching her belly after a _really_ delicious and filling meal. But eating with the Kidd Pirates was similar to having a meal with a pack of wolves. Every time she reached out to put an item on her plate, another hand would grab it before her, or she would be shouldered aside.

Her eye twitched. Now Umi considered herself a patient person, but it dawned on her what she would have to do in order to earn her place amongst them at a meal. Her body was small and starved from not having a proper meal in a good while so she was definately on edge around the plethora of food. She sighed inwardly, and readied herself. She grabbed her fork and dove for a piece of unknown dark meat. Her fork dug into the flesh of the dead creature, sending microscopic juice squirting out from where the fork entered. Her mouth watered and her stomach did a flip of joy. Until another fork came crashing down on her piece and attempted to pull it towards himself. Umi and Slash looked up at the same time at eachother. Their eyes locked in a heated battle, sparks flying between them.

He snorted and spoke to Umi for the first time since she joined the crew, "Know your place," His voice was smooth and cool, but his words were harsh.

Umi's eyes widened, surprised to actually hear him speak and at his lack of respect. She felt her fork slide out of the meat as he once more began to bully her out of a piece of food. The moment she felt the familiar emptiness of the missing weight that should be on the utensil, she snapped. Years of living on her own had taught her the world was a harsh place, especially when it came to food. Until just recently, Umi had no reason to act upon the instincts she grew up knowing.

In the blink of an eye her fork rotated in her hand and she slammed it back into the piece of tender meat she had picked out of the pile. She knew exactly what kind of rules this crew played at meal time. She knew it all too well. And no one, aside from Kidd, would be able to out rank her in the dining hall. The fork dove deep into the meat and landed with a very loud 'thud' sound on the wooden table. She bared her teeth at Slash and growled.

Slash was taken aback. He instictively flinched away, letting go of the food. The entire room settled into silence, giving the two questioning looks. Umi gave Slash a low warning growl from her throat and wiggled her prize free from the table. She placed it on her plate and proceeded to fill the ceramic piece with various other foods, she hadn't been able to touch before either. She began, finally, to eat greedily and as messily as any of the other members.

Slash recovered from his shock and glared at the girl, "Ch!" He sat up in his seat and reached over Umi's plate with his bare hand and swiped her dinner roll, just as she shoved a large portion of mash potatoes and gravy into her mouth. He sat back in his seat and smirked at her, thinking he'd won. He already had a piece of bread of his own, but he wanted her to know that she couldn't just challange him and get away scott-free.

Umi's eyes narrowed, she dropped her fork and picked up a nearby steak knife. She leapt up and drove the knife into the dinner roll, right between his middle and ring fingers. The crew continued to watch their battle for dominance, extremely interested. Still holding the knife to the table, Umi stood up slowly, leaned in close to his face. Sweat dripped from his brow as her eyes bore into his, daring him to make another move. She swallowed her mouthfull of potatoes and licked her lips almost seductively, if she hadn't been threatening him. She reached over with her free hand, he visably flinched but didn't back away, and plucked the roll from his plate. She smirked widely, showing all of her teeth, but her eyes held no hint of amusement. They glared at him so coldly, he wondered if she was even really human. She leaned in closer, their noses almost touching and spoke in a voice full of malice, "Know your place," She threw his own words back at him, in front of the entire crew. His face burned red with anger and embarassment, but he refused to be publicly castrated more than he was. He kept face and let her continue.

She finally sat back in her seat, taking both dinner rolls along with her. The rest of the meal was eaten in an awkward murmmering. One by one, each member attempted to challange her, but was easily thwarted. Even Killer was made to get serious towards her when she wouldn't back down from him, but in the end she inwardly growled and relinquished the last bit of string beans to the first-mate with reluctence. The only one she gladly rolled over for was their Captain, much to the crew's relief.

* * *

Umi sat on top of the Captain's quarters, the highest place she could be on the ship without climbing into the crow's nest. She stretched out her limbs as she lie on her back, staring at the infinite amount of stars in the sky. She scratched her distended belly in comfort, very content with her efforts. Her smile faded and her hand placed itself back on the floor, sprawled out with the other limbs. How long had it been since she needed to assert herself at a dinner table? How long had it been since she even sat at a table filled with people? Her thoughts drifted to old memories, that should've been forgotten with the passing wind. She stared blankly at the stars, not really seeing them. In her mind she could hear the playful laughter of a group of children she had once known. She closed her eyes. Flashes of smiles without faces appeared behind her eyelids. A boy held his hand out to her, a reluctant but playful smirk on his featureless face.

"Miss Umi?"

Wire's voice surprised her. Her eyes snapped open and she turned her head in the direction of his voice. She blushed, seeing her arm was outstretched towards the dark sky above them, she yanked it back towards her chest, as if caught doing something bad. "D-did you need me for something?" She used her elbows to push herself into a sitting position and hugged her knees to her chest.

"Yes," He climbed up and sat with his legs crossed neatly, "About your sleeping arrangements. You were originally supposed to sleep in the same room as Slash and myself. However after tonights...events," He chose his words carefully, "At dinner, Killer and I agreed it would be for the better if you were to bunk with Pipe and Flick instead,"

Umi shrugged, "That's fine. If it's too much trouble for everyone I could always sleep right here," She gestured to the spot she was currently sitting in,"I'm used to sleeping outside so any arrangement isn't a problem, but I'm curious, if you know, why Slash doesn't really like me,"

"I believe 'hate' is a more appropriate word in this case," He corrected her, "And I believe it has something to do with your actions towards him at dinner,"

"Hey," She began to defend herself, "I was hungry. That was my first meal in a really long time and he was trying to take it from me. There's no way I was gonna just let that happen," She pouted, "Anyway it's not just that. It started before dinner. The moment I walked on the ship he's been treating me like I'm scum,"

Wire gave a heavy sigh and began to explain to her in a hushed tone, "Look, most of the men on this ship are against you joining, but no one would dare speak out against the Captain's choice,"

"But why-"

"It's because you're a woman, therefore you've automatically been deemed the weakest of the group. Not to mention you're size," he continued, "You look unhealthy and small and they think that makes you twice as useless. If you want my advice, keep doing what you're doing and eventually they'll warm up to the thought of having you around," He chuckled at her pensive face, "If it makes you feel any bit better, I don't think you're completely useless," He reached over with his long arm and ruffled her hair.

"Um...thanks?" She hesitantly smiled up at him, "So what room exactly? I mean I know who my roommates are now, but where is it?"

"C'mon," He hopped over the side, Umi following not too far behind.

* * *

"So which one of you is 'Pipe' and which one is 'Flick'?" Umi questioned, holding a simple green blanket Wire had offered her.

The bigger of the two, the man she remembered that could crumble the earth beneath her feet, pointed to himself, "Pipe," The other man with an orange mohawk didn't say anything.

"So I guess that makes you 'Flick'..." He 'hmphed' and hopped into the top bunk of their bed and placed his shades at the corner.

"Sleep over there," Pipe pointed to the empty set of bunk beds on the exact opposite side of the room and went to lie down in his own for the night.

Umi shrugged off their cold shoulders and flopped into the bed, turning off the table lamp on her side of the room. She hugged the pillow to her chest and smothered her face in it affectionately. She couldn't seriously remember the last time she had the pleasure of sleeping in a bed. She fell asleep within seconds, the events of the last few days pushed the limits on her body. She couldn't remember the last time she felt this level of comfort.

_"Umi-chan!" Brown haired, Umi looked up from the grass she was plucking with mild interest. A younger boy, with dark hair and eyes ran up to her excitedly, his hands clasped in front of him, probably holding something of interest. "Umi-chan! Look! Look! I found a weird new bug!" He stopped and crouched down next to her, opening up his hand slightly to let her peak, "It flies so I can't open up my hand all the way," He held up his partially opened hand to her eye, "Don't worry, it hasn't stung me yet, so I don't think it will,"_

_"If it doesn't sting or bite, it probably doesn't taste very good then," She muttered._

_"Ew! Umi-chan! I still don't understand how you could eat bugs!" Umi laughed and ruffled the five year old's hair. "Here just look and tell me what it is!" _

_"Okay, okay!" She smiled and took a peak. She gasped and yanked herself away from him, disgusted, "Ugh...That's a butterfly," Her face grew pale as she shivered, "I hate butterflies,"_

_"Eh? But its wings are so pretty!" He argued._

_She shook her head from side to side violently, "Nuh-uh! Don't you see its face? They're so creepy!" _

_"You're so weird, Umi-chan," The little boy muttered, "Aren't girls supposed to like these kinds of things?"_

_"Momo-kun should know by now that Umi-Chan is not like the other girls," A new male voice laughed at the younger two. They looked over and saw the older leader of their group, smirking down at them. His wild and shaggy blond hair seemed untamable by any comb and his light honey brown eyes were filled with mischief. He came over and crouched near them, "She eats bugs, she picks her nose and flings the boogers,"_

_"So!" Umi yelled defensively._

_"She snores when she sleeps,"_

_"I do not! Kuroi! Stop making fun of me!"_

_"But she's really good at hunting and stealing," Kuroi's mischeivious eyes settled into a kind look, "She helps take care of all the younger ones and makes sure we're not being stupid."_

_Umi blushed at his compliment, not used to such praise. Time stood still for a moment then. A gentle breeze lifted her shoulder length hair angelic-like. A call from across the field brought them back to reality and the two preteens broke eye contact. A group of smaller children and a few other preteens waved for them to come over. Momo laughed and immediately began to run towards them. Kuroi smirked again pushed himself into a standing position. He walked in front of Umi and held his hand out to her, to help her off the ground. "C'mon. Let's go."_

_She smiled up innocently at him, reaching out for his hand. All of a sudden everything became distotred, the once clear sky became black with purple clouds. A voice rang out in her head._

_"I should've known better!" She yelled, mostly to herself. The scenery changed. An older Umi was being carried off by a couple of shady looking men, "After everything I've done for you! You liar! Liar!" Tears began streaming down her face as she stared at Kuroi's back. He turned his head slightly so she could just barely make out his lips that formed a tight frown. He muttered something she couldn't really hear over her own yelling._

Sweat rolled down her brow and her breathing was heavy with panic. Pipe, already dressed for the morning, looked over in her direction. He looked at her twitching limbs and her scrunched eyes and decided to risk waking her, so she wouldn't wake the whole ship and cause the crew to be grumpy at her. He nudged her at first, but she proved to be a heavy sleeper. He then grabbed both her shoulders and began to shake her lightly at first, but more roughly as a bit of time passed and she still wouldn't wake.

Umi gasped loudly and snapped open her eyes. Holding her shoulders was none other than Pipe. She stared at him confusingly, getting a good look at the vertical red tattoos on his face for the first time. Pipe held a finger to his lips, "Most everyone is still sleeping," He whispered.

She glanced back and forth real quick before she relaxed, remembering where she was. Pipe released her shoulders and walked out of the room, glancing back at her to make sure she was really ok. She wiped her brow with the sleeve of her shirt, resting back on the pillow and sighing from relief. She didn't want to let herself ponder on her dream for too long, so she decided to hop out of bed and see what Pipe was up to so early in the morning before the sun was even over the horizon. She walked out of the room and spotted him walking up the stairs above deck. She jogged lightly, now aware of the dull throbbing pain in her thigh, and caught up to him. Her leg had begun to heal over nicely and in a few more days she probably would no longer need the stitches. She guessed it was because of the sudden burst of nutrients her body recieved from last nights hearty dinner that her immune system decided to reward her, "How come you're up so early?" She questioned and continued to follow him.

"Making breakfast," He stated. He didn't hate her because she hadn't done anything for him to dislike yet. He was a type of person who judged people based on character and actions.

"Can I watch? I don't have much to do," She looked up at him as he stopped suddenly. He put his hands up to his chin and tilted his head slightly in thought.

Finally he turned to her, "Do you know how to gut fish?" Her eyes lit up and nodded excitedly, "Then I could put you to use instead," He continued walking towards the dinning hall with Umi in close pursuit. Once in the kitchen, he motioned for her to stand at one part of the counter as he expertly moved around the kitchen. He gathered a bunch of ingredients and set them in neat rows on the counter. Finally he took out a giant bucket of fish from a cool storage and placed them on the floor to Umi's left. He walked around to her right side and handed her a carving knife, handle side first, "Always hand a knife to someone this way," he instructed as she took it from his hand, "Gut them, then hand em to me. It's okay to place them on the counter if I'm not ready to take another yet,"

She smiled and nodded, eager to actually help. She was glad she knew how to do at least this, because she sure as hell never learned to cook formally. A good meal meant stealing it, but a good homecooked meal meant charring whatever she caught for the day over a high flame. She knew nothing of the spices Pipe had placed on the counter, hoping he wouldn't ask her to season them.

Pipe was a little impressed with her skill. It was rough and a little messy, but she didn't damage the fish meat and got it done faster than he could rub in the spices. When she finished, she asked if there was anything else to be done. He shook his head and shooed her away from the kitchen. Umi moved away from the counter, but only went around it to sit on a bar stool. He didn't mind.

"So you're the only one that can cook?"

"Depends," He answered, still moving at his own rythem,"Can you cook anything?"

"Nuh-uh," She shook her head from side to side like a small child, "I know basics like descaling, plucking feathers, skinning, and gutting most animals, but I just cook everything over an open fire until it's black on the outside," He sweatdropped, "I made the mistake of not cooking the meat well enough once... I had worms for a month without realizing it ," The top right corner of her face turned blue at the awful memory.

"Then I guess I'm the only one on the ship that can cook a decent meal then," He answered her original question, "I help Flick sometimes too,"

Umi perked up, interested to hear more about her other crew members abilities, "What's Flick do?"

"He's our shipwright," Was all he said, but when she looked up at him expectantly he sighed and began to explain others a bit more, "Boom," He pointed to the window to their left. Outside stood a man, facing them, but leaning his elbows on the ships railings. He had short and spiky light brown hair and dark eyes. He wore a green sleeveless shirt, showing off the aqua colored swirl tattoo on his right shoulder. He yawned widely, "Makes all our explosives. And Slash is very good at finding treasure and fighting."

"I see," She pondered on what she could possibly bring to the table. Sure she could fight, but she's never fought offensively. She worried more for her own safety to focus on just fighting for fun or other people. She had to because every wound diminished her chance of survival. Not everyone was kind enough to patch her up for free, or give her penicillin for infections. She was incredibly lucky enough that she ran into such people at critical times, but of course she couldn't always rely on her 'luck'. But now that she was apart of a crew, things were going to be different. She would have to fight more openly. Guerrilla attacks were no longer an option for her in this crew. She knew from experience that they were close combat, charging head first types.

Then there was her other ability. Like Slash, she had an uncanny ability to sniff out treasure. She didn't know if she was just really _that _lucky or incredibly observant without being conscious of it. She breifly thought about her intuition. She normally had a good sense for danger, but she deemed it as a near useless ability since she knew this crew well enough to know that they would probably getting themselves into and causing heaps of trouble.

Pipe heard her sigh heavily and looked up to see her eyes clouded with doubt. The corner of his mouth curved just slightly into a small smile, "Don't worry about it. You'll find something you could do to help out around here,"

She perked up suddenly and rubbed the back of her head while smiling nervously, "Heh, thanks," She wondered if she was really that obvious.

* * *

Umi laid on top of the Captain's quarters once more, enjoying the warmth of the sun. Ready to fall asleep from wamrth and yet another full belly(breakfast ended up being not so different from dinner, except this time around everyone but Kidd and Killer avoided her) she let herself drift. Her sensitive ears picked up on a conversation below her.

"I just don't see why the Captain think she'll be of any use," Her heart sank at the negativaty directed at her. He only spoke to her once, but she couldn't forget the sound of Slash's voice.

"It's not our place to question him, but from the looks of her she really doesn't seem very strong," The voice was unfamiliar to her. She rolled onto her stomach and leaned over to catch a peak at who it was. She didn't want to alert them of her presence so she leaned just far enough to catch a glimpse of Flick's orange mohawk and quickly laid back down,"The only thing we've seen her do so far is run."

"Pft, maybe he just wanted a toy. First time he's ever brought one on board though," Umi was inexperienced, but not so naive that she didn't understand what they really meant. She knew they referred to her as a common whore, but she let the comment slide with a cold look at the sky. She zoned out of their conversation, retreating into the corners of her mind. It's what she always did when she didn't want to be around people. She rolled over onto her side and curled into a fetal position, closing her eyes and breathing slowly. But as soon as she did, Kuroi's smirk was waiting behind closed eyelids. She scruntched up her eyes, attempting to get rid of his likeness. She clutched at her head with her fists, hoping the bad memories would disappear.

Then she felt it. An oddity only the New World could create. She'd only felt it once before and barely escaped with her life on nothing but a piece of driftwood. The familiar heaviness of it's pull and the eerie low frequency humming, that most people would easily overlook. She sat up and jumped off the roof, surprising both Slash and Flick.

"What the-!" Flick exclaimed, "How long have you been listening!"

She didn't bother with them, "Captain!" She yelled out, "Where's Captain!" She yelled at them. They refused to answer her so she hopped to the lower deck and ran back and forth screaming 'Captain' over and over. She nearly fell backwards when Kidd seemingly appeared out of nowhere and grabbed a fist full of her hair, preventing her from becoming any more hysteric.

"What's with all the yelling!" He screamed in her ear.

Her scalp hurt, but she didn't worry about it at the moment, "Captain! We're headed straight for 'The Devil's Palm'!"

"What?"

"The Devil's Palm! It's an area that has an incredibly strong magnetic pull! It's a floating piece of rock hovering just above the ocean! It pulls anything it wants into its magnetic field and causes all of the log poses to go crazy once you get close enough!"

"And?" He rolled his eyes.

"It could easily pull our ship out of the ocean and crush it flat against its surface!"

She caused a spectacle on the ship, everyone now staring at her with interest. Killer was the first to speak up, "How can you tell we're headed in its direction? Wouldn't the log pose be able to pick up on it by now,"

"We're not that close yet, so we can still avoid it," She argued, "And I can just tell. I've experienced it once before and I remember how it feels...and what it sounds like," She died down, realizing that she sounded weird.

Kidd let go of her hair and folded his arms, "And you're sure it's a magnetic field? Not a gravitational pull?"

"Yeah," She straightened out the knots in her hair, "I can tell the difference,"

"Then we don't have a problem," He huffed. She snapped her head up in surprise. She heard chuckles and scoffs and looked around. The crew wasn't anymore worried than he was.

"That's right," Heat turned towards her, "You haven't witnessed Captain's devil fruit abilities yet, have you?" She shook her head in reply, "He can control magnetic fields and objects. The area we're headed won't be much of a problem,"

"But-!"

Kidd grabbed the entire crown of her head between his fingers and squeezed, "Are you doubting me?" He frowned and glared harshly.

"No! But-"

"Then it's fine if I say it is!" He interrupted.

"But-!" He silenced her with a harsh glare and and squeezed her head harder until she stopped questioning him.

"Look, the quickest way to get to the Mourning Swamp is to cut right through the middle of this area, and that's exactly what's I plan on doing! Now sit back and keep out of the way!" He released her head by shoving her away.

Her eyes widened as big as saucers. No one had told her their decided destination! First they were going through a deadly field that threatened to crush them flat, then he wanted to visit the island where even if they died, they could never rest? Assuming they would even make it out of the Devil's Palm, that is.

Everyone went about their business, ignoring Umi as she nervously paced around the ship. Kidd gave her an annoyed glance everytime he caught her acting up, to which she responded by sitting with her knees to her chest, and burried her face in her knees to keep from annoying him. But she couldn't help but feel anxious the closer they got to the Devil's Palm. The humming noise only grew louder in her ears and her anxiety grew worse. Heat stood not too far away, noticing each time that her anxiety changed for the worse, guessing that they were fast approaching the phenomenon. He huffed an annoyed sigh, seeing as their captain finally decided to ignore her, and trudged over to where she currently sat huddled.

He crouched in front of her, elbows resting on his knees. She knew he was there , but she was too afraid to look up at his face. She thought that he'd only become more annoyed with her like the rest of the crew was. What did they know? They haven't been in the New World for very long.

"Oi," His voice was soft, as if trying to keep the others from hearing their conversation, but kept it just above a whisper. She looked up at him with feafully cautious eyes, "I know you've probably had bad experiences in the past, but I can tell already you've never been on a crew like ours. First of all if you had, you would'nt have been able to hide away on so many ships," He told her quickly before she was able to get a word in, "Second, if you're going to be a Kidd Pirate, you need to have faith in our Captain. If he believes he can get us out of a tight situation, you should as well," He continued, "Because frankly, it's embarrasing when any crew member, no matter how recently they joined, has so little trust."

Umi looked away from his eyes, genuinely hurt by his words. She felt embarrased by her own actions and she supposed he was right. But it wasn't just Kidd and his crew, she could no longer find it in herself to trust anyone the way she used to.

"Come," Heat ordered, "How you feel on the matter is none of my business, but the very least you could do is act like you can place your trust in someone else," He stood and held out his hand for her. She looked up and, even though there wasn't a single similarity between him and the Kuroi from her memories, she saw his likeness in Heat for a split second. She bit her lip and hesitated, but convinced herself to take his hand. He had a point. She didn't honestly have to trust them, but she had to at least pretend like she did for the time being. He pulled her to her feet, "Good," He nodded in approval before releasing her hand and walking away.

Slash saw the entire thing from the corner of his eye. He frowned, wondering what Heat told her so that she no longer sat in corners away from the Captain's glare. Her eyes still held a hint of fear, but like the time they cornered her near the waterfall, she stood proud and tall. He watched as she took long strides over towards their Captain's side and stood silently by him without moving as they began to approach the deadly magnetic field.

Kidd glanced at her, curious about her new found confidence, but brushed it off. Even he could hear a faint humming sound, and by Umi's expression he could tell that they were just about there. The boat did a sudden lunge forward, sending everyone tumbling across the deck or, for those with quick reflexes, onto railings. It took a moment for everyone to recover, but by the time they did, the ship was already floating in the air.

"Shit!" She heard Kidd curse, but she was too busy clutching desperatly at the rails. Again she was being reminded that she was the smallest and lightest of the entire group. She was the only one being pulled upward and straining to actually keep herself down. Everyone else definately felt its affects, but their feet remained firmly on the ground.

Kidd stretched out his arms, angry that he was caught somewhat off guard by the ship suddenly jumping forward from the odd way the waves were moving, and purple sparks crackled in his hands. The ship kept from moving up any further and despite, Umi's warning, for the first time they noticed a ginormous flat rock hovering a few hundred yards above them. Slowly the ship began to decend back towards the water, much to everyone's pleasure. But the problem now, was Umi who was barely hanging on by the tips of her fingers. None of them wanted to risk letting go of the rail just to save her useless butt.

Umi felt her fingers slip further. She strained to keep her hold on the rail, refusing to be continuously dubbed 'weak'. She grit her teeth and pulled herself back in slightly by digging her nails into the underside of the wood. The moment Kidd was able to bring them back into the water, the heavy pull from the floating rock released its grip on Umi causing her to fall face first onto the deck.

"Hurry and get the ship out of the area!" She heard Killer yell and everyone else dove into full swing, releasing extra sails in order to catch more wind. Kidd stood his ground and focused on keeping the ship in the water. He looked as if he was straining, but she couldn't blame him. He was holding back an entire ship after all.

Soon enough, without any further incidents, they made it beyond the Devil's Palm to temporary safety. Everyone, breathed a sigh of relief and began joking with one another to ease the tension. Umi stared, isolated from the nakama-like aura of the crew. They never made her feel welcome, but at that moment she felt especially outcasted. She slunk away without anyone noticing, laying on top of her favorite spot, knowing no one would bother her there.

Umi never felt more useless than she had just then.

* * *

**A/N: After I reread this chapter, I felt that it was a little bit more of a filler, but I wanted to dive a little into Umi's character background and whatnot. I picked the title "Rolling Girl" by Hatsune Miku, although Umi's character theme is the Akiakane version on youtube(which I'm sure is still official in some way), because I really feel that Umi has such a relation to the lyrics. I was originally going to call the series "Torrent" because I like things to sound cool and exaggerated, but I couldn't let go of my attachment to the current title, but I'm satisfied.**

**I know I rushed 'The Devil's Palm' scene a little, but I only wanted to use it to express how useless Umi feels to the crew at this point and how they all(even the ones with a tiny bit of compassion) feel towards her. At this point none of them have enough reason to save her because, frankly, she doesn't provide the crew with any extra manpower. This will definatly change as the story continues towards its first arc and I hope you're all as excited as I am to see her develop and blossom into someone worth of Eustass 'Captain' Kidd! Haha!**

**I look forward to everyone's wonderful reviews, both good and bad because it means you're still enjoying the story this far! See you all next Monday!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello again everyone! First of all, I'd like to give a special thanks to Emz, Neko82192, bRoKEnhEaRTscROsSovEr, and an "someone" for reviewing! I'm glad you all enjoy it, as I am having very much fun writing this! Also I will definitely keep my eye out for more spelling and grammatical errors! _Wink_ **

**Anywhoo! Thanks for being patient with the once a week update, and depending on how things go for me this week, I just might release two chapters before the week is over! Can't say for sure though, but more reviews sure does help my typing speed! Ahaha! Like last time, I'll give a short insight on the chapter below after you're all finished reading!  
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**Please enjoy!  
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* * *

Umi pouted and folded her arms, "Why not!" She demanded.

Wire gave her a very loud and exasperated sigh. He turned to the nearest wall and slammed his head against it in frustration, "Can't you go ask someone else?" He whined, ready to stab his brains out with his own trident.

"Slash doesn't like me, so he's automatically a 'no',"

"Flick?" He suggested.

"He doesn't care for me much either. Besides he's patching up some of the minor damage fom going through the Devil's Palm,"

"Heat?"

"He said to go bug you," She gave him a full on grin.

He couldn't stop his eye from twitching. He clenched his fist tightly and cursed the fire-breathing man, "What about Killer?"

She stared at him blankly for a long moment, "I may not be a man, but I have _some_ pride ya know..."

Wire heard a loud yawn behind him and devilishly smirked at his scapegoat. He placed the palm of his hand behind Umi's back and pushed her towards the lazy looking man, "Boom! Have you and Umi even spoken to each other yet?" Before Umi could protest that he was obviously trying to escape, he continued to speak over her rather loudly,"No! No you haven't! Why don't you two do some bonding and talk! Bye!"

Boom and Umi stared awkwardly at each other. She smiled nervously rubbing the back of her head, "So...Pipe says you make explosives,"

"Yeah," He sweatdropped at the small talk, "What can you do,"

Umi eyes sparked with mischief at the question. She smiled, sending a shiver down his spine, "I'm so glad you asked! I was hoping you could maybe help me a bit on that,"

"Hm?"

"You see, I'm not much of an offensive fighter. I grew up as a theif who attacks people and runs off. I'm afraid I wont be of use to the crew for very long if I don't shape up," She gave him her best pleading look, "So can we maybe have a match and you can tell me what I'm doing wrong?"

Boom frowned at her suggestion. Her head was in the right place, but did she honestly think that a simple sparring match with him could help her? His abilities weren't based on hand-to-hand combat, she had to know at least that much. If she knew at least basics, the only thing that could help her improve was cold hard experience.

"Unless you're busy I guess..." She trailed off, obvious in her disappointment.

"No," He answered without thinking. Damn it, he was definitely stuck with her now. He mentally cursed himself for the softest of the group of Kidd Pirates. He gave her a weak sideways smile, "I guess I could help. There's a training room below deck and I mean it's not like I got anything better to do anyway," He shoved his hands in his pockets and sauntered off towards the stairs leading down.

Umi gave him a beaming smile and thanked him. Boom sweatdropped. He wasn't even facing in her direction, but he could practically feel her gratitude and bright smile begin to suffocate him. As they made their way below deck, Boom noticed something was a little off. He narrowed his eyes and focused on listening.

_Step. stepstep. Step. Stepstep. Step. Stepstep._

They finally made it to the training room. Against the walls were various weights and pull up bars, but the center of the room was left clear. His eyes widened, realizing why her footsteps sounded odd. A serious look on his face, he turned toward her abruptly. She ran into him, too busy looking at the new(to her) room, to realize he had stopped.

"Your wound...It hasn't healed completely yet has it," He gave her a very serious frown motioning to her leg.

She backed up a step and answered him, also in a serious tone, "It's fine at this point. Unless I take a direct hit to the wound itself, it won't reopen,"

"But it's only been a few days since you were stitched up. I don't think we should-"

"It's fine!" Her eyes turned into a soft glare. She appreciated his concern, but that's not what she needed at the moment, "Please," She softened her tone, "I don't want to be a burden on the Captain...or the rest of the crew," She added.

He gave her a short sigh, "Fine. Let's do this," He walked quickly to the other side of the room and took a battle stance, "Fully healed or not, I won't take it easy on you,"

"Good," They gave each other determined smiles before beginning.

* * *

"Captain," Flick walked up to Kidd who was currently at the ship's wheel, "The minor damage has been fixed, but the rudder is beginning to get worn out. I reccommend replacing it soon," Kidd grunted a response, leaning back after checking the log pose again. "How close are we to the next island?"

"We should arrive there by later tomorrow if we don't have anymore incidents,"

"Why didn't you kill her?" Flick threw at him completely out of left field.

Kidd considered yelling at him to mind his own business, but he was all too aware how awkward and defensive that sounded. Instead he calmly turned his attention back to steering the ship, but not before throwing him an angry scowl. "She amuses me," He had no reason to go into detail about how he truly relished the way her disgustingly naive aura gave off an underline malicious intent. Or how he'd love to be the person to one day be able to send her over the edge, fantasizing about enemy ships that would crumble under her hidden destructive nature. It sent shivers down his spine whenever he pictured her eyes turning into that of a cold blooded murderer's. She, or anyone else for that matter, had failed to realize the potential in her. But in due time, he would be the one to help her evolve. He smirked at his own thoughts.

Flick bit his bottom lip in silence. It frustrated him to not know what his Captain truly thought of the half blue-haired girl. He turned and walked away, seeing as he had no further need for interaction. The sun was beginning to set over the horizon and his stomach reminded him that it was nearly meal time. He nearly shuddered at the thought of sitting at the same table as that girl. She was so small, but ferocious when starving. He wanted to ask her of her upbringing, but decided against, thinking she'd just give him vague answers anyway.

The scent of corn drifted from the kitchen and cued Flick's stomach to speak up. He scratched the back of his head, happy that no one was currently within range to hear. He quickly walked to the opposite side of the deck in order to move away from the kitchen. Every crew member sans the Captain, knew what would happen should they enter the kitchen before meal time without a good reason. Flick definitely was not in any mood to have a butcher knife come flying at him.

"Hm?" He stopped in the middle of a hallway, hearing various noises from the training hall. Cautiously walking over, and turning the corner, he was surprised to see Killer leaning against the wall just outside the door, "Killer? What-"

"Shh," Killer held up his index finger up to his mask, presumably where his mouth resided. He jerked his head towards the small opening the door provided, not being closed entirely. Flick raised an eyebrow but followed suit, curiosity getting the better of him. Killer remained leaning against the wall, arms folded and peaking in by turning his head to view the spectacle before him. Flick walked over and crouched in front of the door, also peaking in.

* * *

They stood several feet apart on opposite sides of the room, panting from exhaustion. Boom's stamina was excellent for being a pyrotechnition, but hers was almost on par. Unfortunately for her, her legs gave out and she fell to the floor on all fours absolutely exhausted. Sweat dripped from her brow onto the wood below.

"That's enough for today," He managed to gasp between pants. When she looked up to protest, he held his hand up to her, "Have some consideration. I'm not just sayin' this for you, I'm pretty beat also."

Umi nodded and worked her way to a sitting position, spreading her legs in a 'v' formation and leaning back on the palms of her hands. When he offered her some water, she thanked him and began to chug the entire canteen. He sat down beside her and did the same and soon their short and uneven breaths slowed to a more acceptable pace.

"Wuah~" She smiled, "I can smell Pipe's cooking from all the way over here!" Her tummy rumbled with excitement and Boom's stomach answered in agreement.

He chuckled lightly, "So I've actually been dying to ask," He sat up and draped an arm over his raised knee, looking at her, "Where the hell did you learn to eat like that!"

Her face deadpanned, "I don't really understand what you mean," She turned her head away, obviously lying, "I just copy what you guys do," She threw her hands up in a shrug.

"Bullshit! No one here _growls_ at anyone else during meal time! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were raised by wolves," He smirked at his little joke, bringing the canteen up to his lips to take another swig of water, ready for some sort of outburst to defend her lady-manners. But when silenced graced his ears, he lowered the water before he could actually drink anything, "You've _got_ to be shitting me..."

"I never said-"

"It doesn't matter what you never said! The point is you never denied the statement!" They stared awkwardly at each other. Boom, taking in the new information and Umi, attempting to come up with a less awkward topic. "So...seriously?" Boom continued, much to her dismay, "I mean like were you running with them and howling and everything?" He snickered at the thought. Again, he meant it as another sarcastic joke, but the residual silence only confirmed his suspicions, "No way! Are you fucking kidding me?" He burst into hysterical laughter causing her face to turn as red as Kidd's hair.

"Stop making fun of me! It's nothing like how you're imagining!" She threw her empty canteen at his head. His smile never left, but he stopped laughing long enough for her to explain herself, "I mean yeah I did stuff like that, but it's not as ridiculous as you're making it out to be!"

"Pft! And how would a bunch of wild mutts ever compare to the company of people?"

Umi hugged her knees to her chest, "I wouldn't expect you to understand," Her eyes softened, "I was only with them for a year. But I've never felt more accepted by anyone else in my entire life," Boom's smile finally began to disappear from his face as he patiently listened, "The pack taught me how to survive in any condition. We fought together, traveled together, ate together, and slept together like a real family. At least that's what real families do, right?" Boom glanced at her from the corner of his eye, but looked away, not wanting to make accidental eye contact, "If I could've I probably would've stayed there on that island with them forever,"

"Why'd you leave?"

She smiled sadly to herself, allowing snippets of memories to flash by like a slide show, "Because humans find amusement in any unusual phenomenon."

Boom mulled her words around in his head. Did that mean that she was hunted down by other people? Probably slave traders looking to sell her as a pet. How old was she when she first ran with them? What did she do before then? Where did she go after then? He suddenly found himself more and more intrigued by the minute. He wanted to ask all these questions to satisfy his own burning curiosity, but the only thing that spewed out from his mouth was, "So...have you been on your own this entire time?"

A heavy and uncomfortable silence filled the room and the hallway. Umi froze at his question, not really knowing how to answer. Images of smiling kids covered in dirt and grime faintly gave her an almost nonexistent warm feeling in her chest. The familiar distorted figure of the blond haired boy with the smirk dominated the previous memory and made her shake. No, she hadn't, but her own mouth and vocal chords betrayed her thoughts, "I guess so. Yeah." She hadn't meant to tell him the truth, or lie depending on how one looked at the situation, but it was already out. She clenched her fist and stood up, "This ship has a bath of some sort, right? I want to be clean before I touch my food,"

"Two doors down," He answered, not having the courage to face her after his embarrassingly blunt question. She left without another word, afraid that her voice would give her true feelings away. Thankfully, she didn't run into anyone on her way to the bathing area, nor was there anyone occupying it.

Trying to take her mind off of what just happened, she tried to admire the large bath house. It was lined with a pale blue tile. The walls held four different shower heads, meaning for the area to be a public bath. Underneath the showers, a single long piece of varnished wood held four sets of shampoo and conditioner, scattered amongst the shelf by lazy and uncaring crew members. Opposite the door was a giant bath, already filled with hot water(she vaguely wondered why and how, but didn't care enough at the moment to dwell on the matter). The tub could easily fit the whole crew at once with plenty of extra room to spare. She silently thanked who's ever idea it was to put a lock on a public bath aboard a pirate ship as she flipped the knob to close off intruders from entering.

She discarded her clothes in a dry corner then placed herself underneath one of the showers. She shivered at the burst of cold water, but relaxed as the water began to heat up fairly quickly. She sighed in content, closing her eyes, as she leaned her head back to soak her hair. Her blue irises reopened to stare blankly at the ceiling. When was the last time she had a hot bath? Was there even such an instance? Leveling her head once more, she thought it ridiculous. There must've been a time in her life that allowed her to enjoy warm baths. How else would she know the excitement of getting ready for one? Or the pleasures it would bring to her aching muscles.

She brushed off her mild confusion and focused on scrubbing the dirt and sweat from her skin.

The rest of that evening passed quickly without much incident. Killer waited until after dinner to report to Kidd what he found out in the training room earlier that day. Kidd scowled at Killer when he finished his explanation and waved him off. "I don't give a shit what she's done up until now. I'm only concerned of how she'll be from this point forward," He told his first-mate. If he had to be honest with himself, he was vaguely interested in learning more about her, but the problem was that he didn't care _enough_ to ask or hear anything more. If more information presented itself to him, he'd hear it out, but it wasn't the top of his list. He dismissed Killer and threw himself on his bed for the night, boots an' all.

* * *

The next morning, Umi awoke without much interference from any nightmares. The sun shining above their heads, the last of the morning dew beginning to evaporate. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and trudged out of the shared room that was currently empty. She didn't bother with her frizzy hair, that her pillow had dried for her during the night, and walked around the deck barefoot, wondering why she had been allowed to sleep in. Luckily for her, she was found by Boom before anyone else. He gasped at her appearance, causing a sort of 'un-manly' squeaking sound to come from his mouth the moment he saw her.

He blushed seeing her in nothing but the over sized shirt someone from the crew had given up(definitely not his own), "U-Umi!" He shouted in surprise, but began to whisper so no one else would hear, "Wh-why aren't you wearing any _pants!_"

"Hm?" It took her a moment to register his question from her groggy state of mind, "Oh. It got really hot so I kicked them off,"

Boom looked back and forth around the ship nervously, hoping no one would come by them,"Always make sure you're dressed before just wandering around outside!" He scolded her, still whispering. He grabbed her shoulders, turned her around, and began to shove her back into her room. She protested, still half asleep, but he wouldn't hear any of it. He gave her one final push into her room, "Now get dressed before someone jumps you!"

"Huh? But last night I heard Slash say I had as much curves as a twig!"

"Just- Urgh!" He slammed the door shut in her face and breathed a sigh of relief when he began to hear shuffling. He sweatdropped at Slash's statement. Sure he sort of agreed that the new girl looked a lot less healthy than most women, but even after a few days of eating regularly with them, she was really starting to fill out nicely. Her skin glowed a healthy peach color and the sheen of her hair was silky and bright. Most importantly, she no longer looked as if she would float away with the next breeze, but there was still room for improvement. The door opened and a much more alert Umi exited, fully dressed. He turned to her with a small frown on his face, "You missed breakfast." Boom gave another surprised gasp, this time sounding more like a gasping fish. She stared at him, tears streaming in rivers down her face and her lower lip rising in a pout. He rose his hands defensively in an attempt to sooth her, "D-don't worry! It was pretty obvious that you weren't there, so I'm sure Pipe might give you a snack!" He smiled with a sweatdrop running down is temple. She cheered up right away, but it lasted for only a second.

"Hey, Boom," He twitched slightly, recognizing the seriousness in her tone, "How come no one bothered to wake me?"

He mentally cursed a 'shit-storm', nearly drowning in his panic, "W-well...a lot of the chores were being handled already and-"

She stopped listening. Was she really that seemingly unreliable that they didn't even bother to ask if she could help? She argued to herself that she knew nothing of sailing a ship or keeping it up to par for sailing, but did the Captain not even bother to put her to work cleaning something? _'Did I fall off the face of the Earth to these people?'_ Umi went from depressed, to angry. She was about to interrupt Boom in his useless excuses, when Heat, in the crow's nest, called out for everyone to hear.

"Captain! We're approaching land!"

"Finally," Boom commented, "C'mon, Umi," He motioned for her to follow, "We gotta report to Captain and figure out a plan when we dock."

She followed him at a light jog, her leg nearly completely closed and the stitches, much to her extreme relief, began to dissolve and fade a little. The two walked up to an already gathered group of Kidd Pirates, their captain sitting on a barrel with his trademark smirk.

"Heat," Kidd turned to the man that had just climbed down from the crow's nest, "How long 'till we reach the island,"

"Less than an hour, Chief. However," Heat continued, "The island is surrounded by green fog, so docking won't be easy,"

"That's fine," Kidd brushed off the warning, "Just lower the sails when we head into it."

For the next half hour, they discussed amongst themselves of all the places the treasure might be hidden based on the little rumored information they had and how they were going to haul it out. They hardly noticed at all when they entered the green mist and if Umi hadn't made any comments, they probably would've forgotten to put away the sails. They concluded their meeting and stood around on deck, Wire at the helm, alert for any danger.

A cold shiver traveled down Umi's spine and she quickly moved from the middle of the deck and hopped up onto the figure head, staring out into the thick green air. Everyone stared at her, a little on edge from her sudden reaction. She closed her eyes, listening intently to her surroundings. _'I don't hear any birds...not even crows...'_ She thought.

"U-Umi," Boom hesitated to interrupt whatever she was doing.

"Sh!" Her closed eye twitched in anger, but relaxed again as she strained her ears to listen harder. With her eyes closed, Umi could hear the gentle lapping of the waves hitting the side of the boat. The crew strained their eyes to catch even a glimpse of a port or beach. Umi was able to catch the small difference in the sound of the waves, "Captain," She called out gently, "I can hear a beach close by, but I don't know the exact distance."

Kidd stared at her for a moment, she never opened her eyes or turned to speak to him and remained where she was. His instinct told him to trust her own in this type of situation, "Weigh the anchor! And prepare the longboat!" He yelled to his men. Even he could tell it would be much easier and safer to take the smaller boat to shore in case there really wasn't any docking ports and in the event that they would have to drag the boat up to the beach. Pipe and Slash scrambled to reel in the chain to the anchor. Boom, Flick, Heat, and Wire climbed up the mast and lowered all of the sails to slow themselves down.

Kidd turned his attention back to Umi. Walking over to her small form straddling the figurehead, he easily towered over her. He bent his torso at his waist, leaning in close to her ear, "What makes you so sure about what's ahead," She could hear the scowl on his face based on the tone of his voice.

Umi opened her eyes halfway, calmly, and turned her head just enough to see his outline at the corner of her eye, "Being a stowaway for so many years, I've had to rely on my hearing a lot. Normally I hid in dark places that would be hard for anyone else to see me."

His voice growled a bit, "So you're relying entirely on your instincts?" She nodded, feeling a shudder forming at the base of her spine. With his left arm he gently grabbed a fist full of her hair once more and clenched, making her wince, "If you're wrong at any point about your instincts, I'll deem you useless to me and kill you myself," He threatened, "I have no use for raw intuition that'll get us all killed." He gave one last yank to her scalp and released her, backing away and turning his attention to the crew.

She should've been afraid of his threat and deep down there was a sliver of doubt in herself, but she knew she'd be okay. She knew she wasn't wrong about what she heard, therefore she had no reason to really take his threats seriously at the moment. She slid off the figurehead and went to join everyone else at the lifeboat after Boom had called her over. Everyone was to accompany the Captain to the island, docked or not, the ship wouldn't really go anywhere with the anchor down and the water calm enough. Umi didn't think it very safe, but it wasn't her place to say. She hopped down the ladder after Pipe had descended and they ventured off into the miasma, truly ignorant of the island's history.

* * *

**A/N: To start off with, I think I made Boom come across a bit 'wimpy-ish' sounding, but that's definitely not the case! I have much in store for him in the upcoming arc, so please don't keep that impression of him! Or rather...please do! That might just make his abilities seem all the cooler! **

**Hmm...Anyone else curious about Umi's past yet? I reread chapters to make sure everything's in order and I've only just realized how much of a tease I am for character origins! Naughty me *heart* ! Don't worry, I'll throw you some more hints as the story continues, as well as a few great facts about Umi herself in the next chapter. Maybe they're not so obvious yet, even in the next chapter, but I'll definitely bring up the topic of her fighting skills in the story at some point.  
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**I originally wasn't going to end the chapter this way. I was originally going to use certain creatures Oda has failed to mention _anywhere_ in the one piece universe as far as I know and frankly I'm slightly disappointed in him for not doing so. I'm not going to say what it is just yet, because I DO have plans to use it even if Oda doesn't. I just hope he's thinking the same things as me and figures they're better made for the "New World."  
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**Sorry for being so vague, but I don't want to give away _too_ many spoilers! Thanks again for all your support!  
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**Don't forget to review!  
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**And may the Shadows of the great Oaks allow you to slip by enemies unharmed!  
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	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: WEEEEEEEO! (-Tobuscus battle cry if you've ever heard it lol) SO! I'm in a great mood today! I just got interviewed for a job that paid more than my last! =D Hopefully I get hired. And just the simple fact alone that my interview went well today, is the reason I am uploading this chapter early!**

** And with the very first official chapter of the arc, I will also be handing out theme song suggestions for certain chapters! Sometimes they just sort of fit the mood setting, other times I think the lyrics have meaning. At times it might be both~ **

**Suggested song for this chapter(probably on repeat since it's not very long! HA!) is: Canvas by Imogen Heap, Ellipse album!  
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**Please Enjoy! 3  
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Slowly, but surely enough, each member of the crew realized exactly how right Umi was. It wasn't even more than ten or fifteen minutes before their smaller boat bumped into the sand and dragged itself to a stop. Pipe and Wire hopped to the sides of the boat, submerging the lower half of their bodies in sea foam. They both began to push and drag the boat just far enough so that the current wouldn't wash it away.

Umi hopped out with the rest of the crew and looked around at the slowly dissipating green fog. The entire island was lifeless and rotting with sickly, withered trees jutting up from the ground. Whatever land wasn't covered in dirt, had patches of yellowed grass striving for life. She looked up at the sky, expecting to at least see the clouds, but the brumous, olive-colored smoke enveloped the once proud kingdom like a dome, cutting it off from the rest of the world. Umi was suddenly nervous. There was no wind on the island, no crows, vultures, or seagulls calling out to each other. Even the sound of the waves sounded as if they were already miles away from the beach. Umi didn't consider herself superstitious, but there was definitely something about this island that wasn't ordinary. She hardened her eyes and clenched her fists, readying herself for any attacks and followed as the group moved forward.

Their Captain stopped suddenly, looking to his right, "Oi!" He grinned widely calling out to the twitching figure huddled beneath a makeshift shelter. The man Kidd had called to jumped nearly ten feet in the air and picked up a spear holding it out at the red-head. "Heh," Kidd sneered, "If you want to die so badly then-"

"You're alive!" The man exclaimed lowering his poorly made spear. Dropping the weapon, he ran at Umi with tears in his eyes, "Real live people!" Before he could put his arms around her, she freaked out and punched him. Hard. His face lie face down in the sand, a large grapefruit sized bump forming at the top of his balding head. Anyone would panic if a middle aged balding pervert with the figure of a skeleton jumped out at them. She shuddered and backed away a few steps.

Kidd was pissed that he was interrupted and even more so that he was not even acknowledged, "Hey, old man-"

"SHHHHHCHSHHH!" He flailed to cover Kidd's mouth, but was easily flung backwards by the supernova. The man quickly recovered, not even bothering to address the rough treatment of the crew, "You must be quiet!" He whispered loudly, "_They_ respond to sound! They'll find you, if you make a lot of noise!"

Boom sweatdropped, "But you were yelling just a moment ago."

"They'll eat you..."He murmured to no one in particular, ignoring Boom's comment, "But it's safe by the sea. They can't hear ol' Cam over the ocean. Can't walk right in the sand neither,"

"'Cam'?" Umi asked, "Is that your name?"

"Yes, ma'am," He nodded vigorously, answering her right away, "Don't remember mah real name, so I chose C.A.M. It stands for 'Cast Away Man'. I thought about it all on mah own!" He smiled proudly, showing her his rotting and missing teeth. He continued to ramble, "Cam's had a lot of time to think. No one alive here," His eyes wandered slowly as if he was observing the island for the first time, "Mah crew left without me. They knew, but they was too 'fraid to turn 'round,"

"So then you've been on this island for a while," Slash stepped forward, "Where's the treasure hidden?"

Cam picked up his spear and poked lazily at the ground, ignoring Slash as if no one had spoken, "They're dead though. They mustuh died out there and washed up ashore, cause I had to kill 'em,"

"Hey, we're talking to you!" Slash clenched his fists in frustration.

"If they're already dead then why did you have to kill them?" Umi asked.

Cam looked straight into her eyes, "Because they weren't."

"So then they washed up perfectly alive?" She rose her eyebrow and he looked away and shrugged.

Killer nudged Umi with his elbow, "Umi, ask him about the treasure and how long it takes for the log pose to set. It's obvious he won't listen to anyone else."

She nodded and turned back to the man who was still stabbing at the sand and asked about the log pose. Without looking up from his current amusement he answered, "Don' remember. Not long though. We were able tah leave that same day," Satisfied she asked about the treasure next. He froze in mid jab and jerked his head towards her very suddenly, giving her a serious, but concerned, look, "You don't want it," His tone was serious, but his accent changed drastically. As if he were only pretending to be a crazed idiot with limited vocabulary,"It's guarded by a powerful monster. And even if you manage, the gold itself is cursed anyway. That's why my crew mates got ship wrecked and came back as one of those walking corpses."

Umi frowned at him, "What we do is none of your business. Now tell us or I'll drag you around the island and use you as a shield!"

Cam glared hard, "Not so nice fer a purdy ladie," He changed his accent again, "If that's wut ya really want ma'am, then I 'spose I gots no right to keep ya," The crew was slightly unnerved at the way he was acting, "If ya follow tha' road all the way up to th' castle, there'll be a big staircase goin' down once yer inside. Treasure's behind th' locked door at the very end. Now if ya'll would 'scuse me," He lifted his hand up to his forehead, tilting a non-existent ten gallon hat at her and turned his back to them. He didn't walk off or look around. He only turned and stood eerily still, staring at nothing.

Flick spoke up for the first time since they landed on the beach, "What fucking psycho..."

Kidd grunted, "Let's go. He's no longer useful and if that treasure's guarded, I'd rather not waste my time here." He gave a disgusted look at the old man's back and turned to follow the road. The crew followed without complaint, not wanting to waste their talents on a pathetic thing like him, also because they were just plain creeped out by him.

They walked a ways from the beach, the castle not terribly far off down the road. Umi fell into step beside Slash, definitely not intending to since she could still feel the waves of hate roll off of him, but it would look much to awkward to move to a different part of the group at this point. She wanted to say something to chase away the awkwardness coming from him.

"Psst~ Try saying 'hi!'" A voice whispered on her other side. She turned to see the old man walking along beside them.

"Kyaaa!" Umi screamed at his sudden appearance and punched his face into the ground, leaving cracks in the acidic soil. She panted from fright and backed away from him, running into Slash and grabbing onto his arm tightly, "Where did you come from? I'm in the middle of the entire group! How did no one even see you?"

"Shh!" He held his finger to his lip and waved the other arm frantically, but it was in vain. Umi had already made enough noise for the entire island to hear. Cam's eyes contracted with fear, "They're coming!" He nearly screamed, but managed to keep his voice under control, "Too much noise! Now I remember why women are too much trouble," He muttered and paced in circles, "Cam's gotta get out of here. Off the road. Let's go back to the beach, beaches are good," He continued to mutter as the sound of footsteps became more apparent to the group. Everyone took out a blade of some sort, Slash having to roughly shrug off Umi before unsheathing his own Tantou(1).

From the dense green haze stumbled decaying corpses; Few at first, but steadily growing in numbers as they continued to limp closer into view. "Don't let them bite you!" Cam suddenly raised his voice and lowered it back to muttering, "That's how the curse starts. You'll become like them. They take you're life and bind your soul,"

Kidd growled, "Shut it, old man before I throw you as bait!" He paused thinking that it wasn't a half bad idea, but then that would be running. There was no way in hell he'd run from a bunch of lifeless people that could barely walk upright. He doubted they even had the ability to attack, "Ch. Wipe 'em out!" The crew, minus Umi, roared in agreement, ready to mow down the enemy. They rushed forward, easily cutting down any walking body that came near. Umi stayed behind on the road with a frantic Cam, watching closely. The problem wasn't the skill of any pirate that had traveled here so far, but the dead people themselves. Even after being sliced and stabbed any which way their limbs continued to reanimate and push forward in an attempt to make the crew a meal. Luckily the crew realized this and paired up back to back so as not to be surrounded.

Killer cut down yet another corpse, "Captain," He tilted his masked head behind him at Kidd, "They won't stay down. We should push forward towards the castle," Kidd grunted in response, not liking the idea of running, but he deemed the gold a much bigger target. Killer yelled out the order, "Head towards the castle!"

They easily outran the limping figures, but up ahead more where slowly making their way to the road leading up to the castle, waking from their still slumber. Umi, once more, wedged herself in the middle of the group as best she could. This time, she didn't mind the sidelines so much. She was the only one without a weapon and if the nonsense Cam sputtered out was true, then she didn't want to get in close for hand-to-hand combat. They sliced their way through the kingdom, nearly reaching the double doors.

"Kya!" Umi gave a small shriek of surprise as one of the lifeless had actually managed to reach out just in time to miss her desired limbs, but caught onto her long hair. She grit her teeth in defiance and attempted to kick the rotting man away. She succeeded in forcing the stagnant oxygen out of his withered lungs, but his stiff hand wouldn't untangle itself from her hair.

"Umi!" Boom called out from the double doors of the grand building, only just noticing she wasn't with them. His body began to move forward, seeing the walking pile of bones with dusty grey flesh ready to take a piece of her skinny leg for itself, but his shoulder was yanked by Slash.

"Leave her." Boom glared at Slash, knowing he was probably right. Slash may have been cruel to her so far, but he wasn't without logic or common sense. If Boom went to help Umi, then he'd be putting the entire crew at risk since they would wait for him in order to close the door. Despite knowing Slash's reason, he couldn't help but feel as if they would regret not having her along.

"Arghh!" Umi strained to hold back his head with her hands, finding it difficult in the awkward position she was in. It refused to let go of her hair or leg, causing her to strain her torso at an uncomfortable angle.

Cam, still beside her, came out of his frantic state and glared daggers at the abomination clutching her in its hands. He rushed forward with his spear, jabbing the tip into its gaping mouth and pushing it back. With reluctance it released Umi and fell on it's back. "Fear not fair lady! No foul beast shall harm you in my presence!" He placed his hand on his hip, the other holding the spear to the ground proudly. He puffed out his chest and deepened his voice.

Umi sweatdropped, still breathing heavily from the close encounter, "Cam let's-"

"Umi!" Boom had disobeyed Slash in the end, running out the ten feet to her and grabbing her wrist, "Hurry up! They're closing in and we need to get inside!"

He stopped when she yanked back, her wrist still in his grip, "Wait! Cam!" She turned to face the old man, "Cam you gotta-" She froze, biting her lower lip.

Cam faced her, a dire seriousness present in his eyes. He searched her face, studying for a moment, "Go on. I'm done here. I've seen too many things on this island I never care to see again," Behind him the lifeless staggered closer, "This is the most I can do for you. The rest depends on your own strength." He never broke eye contact with her, even as they began to sink their rotting teeth into his flesh, even when Boom finally dragged her away and the lifeless covered his view of her. He continued to watch her back as she disappeared through the door and into the castle.

* * *

"What the hell were you thinking?" Slash yelled in Boom's face pushing him against the nearest wall, "After I specifically told you _not_ to go after that-," He struggled to find an appropriate word to describe Umi, "-That _useless_ washboard of a woman, you go and fucking do it anyway! Do you even realize the situation we could've been in because of that stunt!"

"She needed help not even_ ten feet_ from the door! A distance like that-," Slash cut off his excuses and leaned in real close to his face, no longer yelling,

"Listen, you,-" He didn't get to finish his threat before being pushed back by Umi. She stood her ground in front of Boom, arms still outstretched from shoving Slash. She had never confronted him outside of the dining hall and this came as a surprise to everyone. She was afraid, to be perfectly honest, food was one thing; no sane person fought that desperately to defend their food(luckily for her she was at an advantage in that area), but ranking was something you didn't challenge unless you knew you were stronger than your superior. She learned that the hard way in the wolf pack. Hierarchy was everything. Even in this world of pirates, challenging a higher rank almost always meant certain death. But Boom had helped her despite his orders, so she had to return the favor. Slash's eyes filled with rage as he recovered from the initial shock of being challenged. He was about to move forward and strike her down, but Kidd cut in.

"Enough of your shit!" He gave them a bored look, as if these events were normal between crew mates, "Slash, I don't give a damn what you do on your own time, but right now you're going to focus on finding that gold." Kidd knew that excuse was a load of bullshit, but he didn't want anyone else playing with her. _He_ wanted to be the one to cause the twisted expressions on her face. He'd be damned if he'd let anyone else get to it before himself. Slash stood frozen in place, his clenched fist raised in the air and eager and ready to punch the defiant expression off Umi's face. He shook with rage, wanting to get at least one punch in s_o badly_; it briefly crossed his mind to ignore his captain. Kidd spoke again with a deadly tone, seeing Slash actually hesitating to follow his command, "That's an order."

Slash clenched his teeth, but slowly lowered his fist and turned away from the blue eyes that dared to stand up to him, "Yes, Captain." He walked over to the middle of the room, inspecting all the different routes that lie ahead of them. Two corridors to the right and left sides of the room, both of which led down a long hallway or up the stairs. Then in front of them were two staircases on both sides of the huge tattered throne that led down. His eyes narrowed. The old man never said if it was a left or right, he only stated that it was the staircase leading d_own_ once they had gotten inside. To begin with, Slash didn't entirely believe the man. Even before the Captain invited him to join the crew, he had plenty of experience in this sort of thing and a treasury was never held in the basement. The basement was were everyone kept either their armory or prisoners and torture devices. "First of all he never stated which staircase," He began, "But I doubt he was even telling the truth. Kings' treasures are never at the front of the castle or below. People tend to like keeping it at the center of everything, so that it's guarded by all four walls of the castle. I wouldn't listen to the old man's advice. What we need to do is figure out the layout of the castle based on the structure of this room as best we can, and find the best route that'll more than likely bring us to a treasury."

"Cam wasn't lying," Umi spoke softly, still nervous about what just happened between them. Slash turned and glared at her, saying nothing. Wire tried to argue with her that Slash was very experienced and knowledgeable and that they trusted him. She shook her head gently, "I know Slash is right. I never said he wasn't. I can tell that the treasure you're looking for isn't down there, but something else _is_. Something else worth value."

Flick rubbed his temples, already tired for the day, "And how exactly could you know that, hm?"

She looked at the floor, avoiding everyone's gaze, "I-I'm not really sure. I just kinda _know_."

Slash rolled his eyes, "Right. And we're just supposed to believe an explanation like that and blindly follow you into, what is most likely, a trap." Umi said nothing to defend herself. She knew she sounded pretty crazy and didn't really expect them to listen to her, but she felt she had to at least try.

Killer folded his arms and tilted his head in thought. Heat glanced briefly, curious, and could practically see the figurative mess of squiggly tangles above his head that represented his thoughts. Killer searched his mind desperately for an answer to satisfy his own curiosity. Then finally he straightened up and tapped his fist against his palm in success, "I got it." Everyone turned to him, surprised at his sudden outburst of enlightenment, "I suspect that you, Umi, have kenbunshoku haki."

She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, "I have what now?" She looked at everyone around the room for answers, "Is that some kinda disease?"

Killer huffed, "Haki is generally a power that every living thing on the planet has. There are three different types and most people can be trained to use two types. However only certain kinds of people are born with the third type. I'm not going to get into everything right now, but I think you have kenbunshoku haki, which could allow your senses to be extra sharp. It could rarely be a physical sense like hearing or smelling, but usually it's the ability to sense the life force of other people or things that use haki. Honestly, this isn't the first time I suspected that this might be the case. The few times I fought you back on Kyshya Island, where we first met, and when we used the smaller boat to get here; At the time I didn't think of it, but when we sailed through the Devil's Palm, it crossed my mind briefly. Putting all of it together now makes sense of things."

She frowned and closed her eyes, folding her arms, "Sounds complicated..." She didn't get it. Was it to enhance her senses? Or for finding people?

Boom chuckled and stuffed his hands in his pockets, "It's like super instinct." He simplified for her in a term he thought she might understand.

Killer scoffed, "Hardly. I've heard in some rare cases, this type of haki can even predict people's movements by sending an image through your mind. If that's really what you classify as instinct," He trailed of and shrugged, not caring to explain to someone who didn't understand any further at the moment. After all they had a mission to accomplish.

Kidd stared at her intently for a few moments, not going unnoticed by Umi who sweat nervously under his harsh gaze, "Hmmm...how about a test then?"

"WHAT?" The entire crew fell to the floor at Kidd's suggestion. They loved and admired their captain. He was ruthless, incredibly strong, and didn't take shit from anyone. But sometimes, he could be just a little carefree to the situation at hand, not that it showed very often. When it did, they were all at his mercy, painfully riding along whatever impulsive thing he decided to do.

"We can afford a bit of time," He continued, "I'll let you lead us down one of those staircases," He stepped closer to her like a cat stalking a mouse, "In fact, you'll be in the very front. So if anything happens, you'll deserve it," He stopped just in front of her smirking down at her, though the height distance wasn't too extreme, "Find me this supposed object of value. Do it using nothing but your own instincts. If you can, I'll believe what you say from now on and I'll even consider you an official member of this crew," He grabbed her chin and squeezed her cheeks with his thumb and index finger, his gaze turning from amused to deadly, "But if you fail, or something goes really wrong," He squeezed harder, making her wince, "I'm throwing you out there to fend for yourself," He kept his gaze as he forcefully turned her head in the direction of the main enterance and watched as her eyes harden with fear.

Umi gulped as she stared at the door. She could hear their scratching and moaning, vainly attempting to pass the obstacle at reach their prey. "Okay then," He released her suddenly and she rubbed her sore jaw.

"Good!" He walked ahead, "Oh and no one from the crew will help you with anything while we're down there or the deal's off!" An echo of 'Aye, Captain's were followed shortly after.

"Eh? You couldn't have told me that _before_ I agreed?" She pouted.

Killer walked by her, catching up to Kidd, "Would it have mattered?"

She huffed stubbornly. No, it wouldn't have mattered because she didn't have much of a choice. She took a deep breath of confidence and caught up to them, taking the lead as Kidd mockingly held out his hand in a gesture for her to walk ahead of him. She ignored it and stared at both of the hallways leading down.

She picked the one on the right.

* * *

"Jeez! How long is this freakin' hallway!" Flick stretched, continuing to walk at an even pace. Surprisingly enough the stairway was literally no more than ten steps below ground level and put them in a corridor long enough to actually start boring them. There were no windows or paintings or doors to ponder at. Just a long dimly lit hallway made of dark grey stone(the word _'cliche'_ made its way into everyone's minds at some point). Not long after Flick's complaint, they came to a fork in the path. One path led to a set of stairs leading up, further than what they had climbed down in the first place. The other path would take them deeper underground, where it was much darker than the light they stood in. Umi began to walk towards the staircase leading up, but stopped the moment she placed her left foot on the first step. The crew watched with intrigue, wondering why she had stopped so suddenly. They saw her skin crawl with a shiver that started at her feet and made its way to the top of her head. Umi turned on the pad of her foot and began to walk down the more eerie looking path, "This way." Was her only comment.

Flick was being stubborn. He was used to situations like this already and had mastered the art of wearing sunglasses in the dark, but that didn't mean it didn't bug him. Not being able to see in the near darkness, unnerved him. The crew was mostly silent and, luckily for him, if it wasn't for the tapping of Umi's bare feet, he probably would've ran into someone's back. Hearing her feet come to a stop, he followed suit and realized just how close he was to Pipe's back.

The thing she'd sensed earlier was behind this door. Umi was sure of it. She hesitated, vaguely getting the feeling that it might not've been an object, but a person instead. She convinced herself otherwise, not hearing anything beyond the door. She pushed it open, causing a loud and echoing squeak to trail down the passageway. They filed in cautiously and that's when Umi saw it. As she was waiting for everyone to shuffle their way into the door frame, her eyes fell upon two beautifully crafted circlets sitting on a pedestal. A light from a crack in the wall somewhere rained down on it, casting its gorgeous blue tint to shine back at her. She blinked herself out of her fascination, "That looks so suspiciously placed, I almost feel a _need_ to touch it," Her bottom eyelid twitched in shame at her confession.

"That's gotta be thee most obvious trap I've ever seen," Slash crossed his arms over his chest and sweatdropped.

Heat walked a little closer, inspecting the two objects with his eyes and tilting his head this way and that, "What _are_ they, exactly?"

"They're beautifuuuull~" Umi gushed and wiggled in place, "A blade so perfectly circular and curved with an odd blue hue," She rambled, "The strange almost star-like pattern enveloping the circumference! It's-it's-"

"Utterly useless," Slash finished. He ignored the horrified look on her face, "Do you even know what that's called, woman?" The look on her face gave him his answer, "They're Chakrams. A completely useless weapon that hardly anyone was able to master. I've never seen anyone use 'em these days, but even back when they were more commonly known, they were difficult to use."

_**"Ha! Says a man who uses only knives and brute force!"**_

The crew became alert immediately at the sound of this new voice, placing their hands on their respective weapons.

"Who are you!" Kidd yelled out, "Show yourself!"

_**"I'm sure you could all see me just fine from where you're standing,"**_ Umi looked around for the source of the voice. It sounded like a small boy's, but there was an odd metallic echo. As if he were speaking through a den den mushi. _**"In any case my family's Chakrams are far from useless! They're the best in the world and the only kind you could actually wield without throwing like a barbarian,"**_ He finished, sounding as if he had rolled his eyes. Her deep blue eyes came down from looking around the room and finally rested on the Chakrams themselves. She shifted slightly closer, causing the glare from the light to move to a different part of the blade. Her eyes widened. In the blade's reflection was a glowing outline of a small boy. He noticed her staring at him and a crescent shaped smile parted the upper and lower halves of his head,, _**"It's about time someone noticed me!"**_

Umi shrieked and, instead of backing away, leaned in closer for a better look, "Are you really in there? How is that possible!" The entire crew turned on their heels, first glaring at Umi and her stupidity, but then gaping as they saw the young boy's reflection.

Umi's hand reached up to touch it, but Kidd moved to grab her hand, "Don't." He sneered down at her threateningly.

_**"I'm no trap, if that's what you're afraid of,"**_ The boy pouted, _**"Would it put you at ease if I told you I was a prisoner? Because I am you know. My spirit was sealed away here."**_

"Sealed away?" Umi asked, "By who? Why would they want to do that? Maybe you're really a bad person!" She paled at the thought of being wrong in her Captain's eyes.

The boy puffed out his cheeks in anger, _**"I am no criminal! The man who sealed me away was the same person who made the island the way it is! There are corpses walking about, right? They continue to move even after you've cut them down, correct? That's because he's cursed the entire kingdom!"**_

"And who exactly is 'he'?" Umi inquired further.

The boy's reflection shifted uncomfortably, _**"His name is Kasam. He was advisor to the king many years ago. He was lost to greed and cursed everyone out of anger."**_

"Why were you sealed? How come you're not a mindless corpse like everyone else?"

_**"Does it really matter!"**_ He yelled at Umi out of frustration, _**"I need help! I'm sure my body is long decomposed, so I pose as no threat to you if I am to be released! My only wish is to be free from imprisonment!"**_

The Kidd Pirates weren't naive or dumb. They knew a lie when they saw one. Though they could tell they boy hadn't exactly _lied_ to them, it was painfully obvious he wasn't telling them everything. The red-headed captain stepped forward, glaring at the child's image, "Why should we? We have nothing to gain by helping a brat like you. Besides, we're pirates, we don't just _help_ people when asked."

The boy glared, gathering his thoughts before he spoke, _**"Pirates? Then you're just here for the gold tucked away. I could lead you to it, you know,"**_ The boy's mood seemed to lift, finding their weakness to his advantage, _**"Do you know how long this Kingdom has been cursed? I've lost track being in here, but I'd say at least more than one-hundred years. The gold that's here has probably raised in value, by your markets' standards," **_He smirked, knowing he had them right where he wanted, _**"Besides, I'm not asking that you go out of your way to fight this man in combat. You only need to destroy a certain object, which is most likely in the vault along with the rest of the treasure."**_

The Kidd Pirates looked at one another for opinions. Umi continued to stare at the boy. She knew there was something odd about him, but his young age and haughty attitude almost reminded her of the young ones back home, if she could still consider it that. She wanted to reach out and take the Chakrams, shielding him from the evils on the island, but was held back by the judgment that would befall her via her Captain.

The boy sighed softly to himself, seeing the doubt in their eyes. He decided to play his trump card, _**"If you can release me, then these Chakrams would be fit for selling at a very high price. Probably more than all the treasure we have in the vault. They hold a high value anywhere in the world,"**_

Kidd scoffed, "What's to stop me from just taking everything after having you tell us where your valuables are hidden and selling you as you are?"

The boy smiled coyly. He'd delt with many pirates before and this wasn't the first time that sort of question had been presented to him, _**"Because I'm still possessing these weapons of course. No matter how powerful or beautifully crafted a weapon is, if it's cursed, no one will buy it. And if you succeed on getting off this island with everything it has to offer, then I'll make sure every merchant you go to knows about me and I'll tell them you're gold is cursed as well."**_ The tone in his voice was serious, but he couldn't hide his sadistic amusement in the thought of bringing misfortune on people who would potentially betray him.

Kidd wore a sadistic grin of his own, an anger vein popping from his forehead, "Don't think, even for a second, that a little shit like you can control me. I may be a greedy bastard of a pirate, but even I can still have an ounce of self-restraint. All I have to do is leave your ass here and have nothing to do with you. We'll find the treasure ourselves," He picked up his hand, looming over the weapon, "But first, I think I'll fix that smug attitude of yours and just break these things in half!"

"No wait!" Umi shouted just before the tips of his fingers came into contact with the blade. She didn't mean to call out, but she'd acted without thinking. Now the room was silent, everyone waiting for her to explain herself. "I-I'll take on the responsibility!" She cursed herself as more words kept spewing out of her mouth against her will, "I mean, you said that I was on my own down here right? Whatever happens is my mistake? I'm choosing to take this risk," She gulped nervously seeing the heat in his eyes glare back at her outburst and hearing the threatening low rumbling growl in his chest.

"No."

"But-" Umi didn't get to finish her sentence. The entire room began to tremble.

"An earthquake?" Boom suggested.

_**"Damn it!"**_ The boy cursed in full panic mode, _**"This is no earthquake! Girl with the half-blue hair, make your decision! Will you help me or not!"**_ Umi didn't respond right away, Kidd's glare still in the back of her mind. Faintly she heard a sort of squeaking sound, almost like clicking one's tongue but incredibly high pitched. She stared down the hallway, not seeing them just yet, but in an instant she understood that they were going to be in serious danger, _**"Hurry and make your decision or I may never be able to accompany you beyond this point!"**_ Without hesitating any further, Umi pushed past her Captain and grabbed the hilt of both weapons in each hand, feeling a small burst of energy flow through her, embracing her just as a swarm of black wings and chirps filled the room, covering it completely in darkness.

* * *

**(5 minutes earlier)**

"Hm?" Maroon eyes glanced up at the doorway she seldom used. "Hmph," She turned her attention back towards her varnished mahogany table were a beautifully placed tea set waited for her. An undead corpse carefully poured her and her guest some tea. Pale and finely manicured fingers laced through the cup's intricate handle. She brought the tea up to her dark maroon colored lips and sipped.

"Huhuhu~" Her female guest laughed, "You heard them too, right Lurcada?" Her childish voice embedded with malice.

Lurcada placed the cup back down and pushed back a lock of dark pink hair, that she had failed to gather into the braided bun, behind her ear, "Of course," Her contralto ranged voice confirmed with a mature tone, "Perhaps you should go inform Master Kasam."

"AWW!" The orange haired girl flopped her arms over the table in a pout, "But I wanna play! It's been so boring lately!"

"Jackllinh," Lurcada raised her voice slightly in a warning.

Jackllinh huffed and pushed herself from the table, "Alright, alright! I'll goooo~" She sulked off, dragging her feet, to a different door, "No fair," She mumbled on her way out.

Lurcada sighed at the difficult girl, but focused her attention on the door their intruders had nearly walked through. She briefly wondered why they had turned around at the last moment. Her thoughts where interrupted when a scream of muffled excitement caught her ear. She frowned just slightly, but quickly turned it into a smirk, "Hmph~" She scoffed, "That's okay. Even if they do decide to help the poor boy, it won't make a difference. No one can wield that weapon properly," She grinned widely showing off her canines and hardening her eyes into a deadly smile. She waved her hand and instantly, all of the lingering corpses in her room disintegrated into black dust, weaving underneath the door frame and down the hall to capture their mistress' newest prey.

* * *

**I can't wait! I'm too overly excited because Jackllinh is just my favorite antagonist OC I've made so far! =D I think I just might have a thing for characters that are so seemingly innocent that there's obviously something suspicious about them. No insight on this chapter for the moment, if you have any questions or comments, let me know and I'll gladly answer them in some way, shape, or form! =D Love ya'll! Be sure to leave reviews!**

**May your Shadow rest beneath the branches of the Oak 3  
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	6. Chapter 6

__**A/N: Hello, again everyone! First of all, I know this chapter is a bit short! I'm working on the consistency of chapter length and I can never seem to find the balance between too long and too short. Oh well. Also, I must confess that I normally write several chapters in advanced before posting, but this week I seem to have fallen behind a bit. While this is the ever short chapter six, I am currently still writing chapter seven. So much has been going on that I've been very distracted from ANY type of writing at all. But fret not, precious readers and reviewers! Nothing will(currently) stop me from doing my weekly Monday update!  
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**Next on the list of things to speak about: The annotation in the last chapter(not sure if anybody caught it), I completely 100 percent forgot about it! Sorry! It was for Slash's tantou. For those of you who don't know, a 'tantou' is a very long japanese daggar or a very short katana. Even if you did know this already, I wanted to make a small side note that Slash's tantou was a bit longer than an average sized one. Most tantou are about 6-12inches(blade only), or 15-30cm for all my metric users. But Slash's tantou is a little over 14 inches(35.36cm). So yeah, I apologize for the lack of commentary in the last chapter.  
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**The lullaby first mentioned in this chapter was inspired by the lullaby from Pan's Labyrinth! Fun fact! So you can go look that up if you'd like, but it's not the theme for this chapter. And the theme for this chapter iiiiiiisss *drumroll*: Nothing Can be explained(Volcal Version) from the anime Bleach! Lol A little ironic crossing anime theme's I know!  
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**Enjoy!  
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* * *

_A gentle lullaby graced Umi's ears. It sounded sad, as if the person singing to her knew they were going to leave their three year old little girl to fend for herself for the rest of her life. But underneath the sadness was still a hint of love, as if telling her that this wasn't her fault and begging for forgiveness. _

"Umi!" _The gentle embrace around her tiny form seemed to slip out slowly, so as not to wake her, but she knew the person was leaving her. So why hadn't she cried out? Maybe if she did, the person would regret their decision and come back to pick her up from the cold ground._

"Hey! Wake up!" Several different voices shouted out to her, breaking the illusion of her dreams. Her eyes parted slowly, blinking several times to adjust to the room's lighting. In both her hands were the Chakrams, glowing a soft blue(not bright enough for anyone but Umi to notice), but dulled to their usual metallic sheen as soon as she was fully aware of her surroundings.

"Mah~ So you're finally awake," A beautiful woman stepped into her view as she sat up from the floor. She was tall; Taller than Umi, who stood at five feet, eight inches with nothing on her bare feet. Her black boots stopped all the way at her thigh and let her stand just three inches taller than Umi. She wore a dark lacy corset that showed off her curvy figure and large busty boobs. She completed her outfit with a short maroon skirt that stopped just before it touched the top of the boots, showing a sliver of her pale skin. She placed her manicured nails under Umi's chin, giving her a glimpse of the maroon colored nails and noticing that both index fingers had diagonal stripes of maroon and black. Her scarlet eyes studied her hesitant blue ones. After a moment she smirked maliciously, "I think I'm going to like you a lot! You're not a barbaric sadist like the rest of your friends over there," Her eyes darted to the men standing imprisoned behind Umi.

Umi took that as her cue to take a look at her crew mates. Her eyes widened slightly, seeing them behind a green barrier the same color as the sky outside. She was about to call out to them, about to accuse them if they even really tried to get out at all. But her host interrupted, "It's useless. That barrier can hold anything and unless I let them out or die, it'll never break; inside or out."

"Umi," Boom called out, "It's true. We've already tried all we could. Captain can't summon any metal from outside the barrier either..." He trailed off, hinting to her. Silently Umi understood that she'd have to be the one to get them out somehow.

"But," She turned back to the woman in front of her, "Why am I not in there with them? What do you want from me?"

"Oh?" Her eyes lit up with interest, "Believe me, dear, you're nothing special! If I had things _my_ way, you'd definitely be in there with them awaiting you imminent doom~," She smiled sweetly, "But it would seem, you accepted little Romi's help just in time. Perhaps he can explain to you the reason you're out here and not in there?" She gestured for the Chakrams to speak up, but he remained silent, not even the glowing outline of his form appeared from within. "Hmm...Not speaking to us now, Romi? Have your manners and social abilities rotted away down in that cellar all these years?" She shrugged undeterred, "Well no matter. But it would seem that his family's blood line has always had a natural resistance to magical abilities. Quite annoying really, but he can't do much in that state anyway, being sealed away and all. To put it simply, you got lucky." The woman stood from her squatting position in front of Umi, "Now stand. I trust you'll be civil enough to share a cup of tea with me while my master decides your fate."

Umi stood and thought heavily on her words. The old her began to surface, rolling over and accepting her own fate. The Chakrams in her hands hung limply, no Romi to be found. What was the point? She was no powerful warrior like the rest of the Kidd Pirates, she couldn't defeat this woman with her own strength and get them out of there. She felt a sudden shock run through her veins, causing her eyes to dilate and her body to shiver. She raised her head and glanced over to the green prison. Kidd stood confidently, arms crossed, and giving her a stern look. She almost mistook it as another one of his deadly glares, but the smirk on his face wiped away her suspicions. He seemed so confident and sure...in her? She blinked, not believing for a second he actually trusted her to get them out. But his unwavering expression sent a spark off in her body. Her eyes changed with renewed strength and her hands gripped the hilt of her blades firmly. She felt a new warmth spread throughout her body as she turned to face the other woman once more.

"You're name," Umi demanded.

"Hm? Oh, I'm sorry, how rude of me!" She gave a fake smile, sensing the change in Umi's aura, "My name is Lurcada. And since I can see you're no longer going to cooperate," She smile faded and her eyes half closed to a deadly condescending look, "I suppose I'm the one that's going to be killing you today~ I'm sure you'll taste yummy, you little masochistic thing," She giggled and licked her lips.

Umi felt a rush of excitement run through her body. This felt nothing like being hunted down by the crew or getting caught stealing. This time _she _was the one willing to engage a fight with another person. Her muscles trembled in excitement, "That's funny," The tone in her voice lowered to a familiar pitch. The crew recognized it as the one she used during meal time, but this time around it sounded so much more serious, more deadly, "Because I was planing on you being the one to die!" Umi darted forward, swinging the left chakram out at Lurcada who dodged it effortlessly, reappearing behind her.

Lurcada grinned, the outline of her iris beginning to glow a faint red, "As if a brat like you could really hit me!" She turned on her heel and swung her leg around, kicking Umi in the face and sending her several feet away. Umi twisted her torso in the air, landing on her feet and skidding to a stop. She grit her teeth painfully, feeling the after effects of the kick, and shook the dizzy feeling out of her head.

"Hey," Umi muttered and held up the chakrams at chest level, taking a defensive stance, "If you've got any information that might help, now's a good time." There was no response from Romi. She tilted the blades slightly, hoping to move the glare of light out of the way of his reflection, but he remained missing. "Guess not..." This time Lurcada charged at her and Umi didn't hesitate to rush forward to meet her. Her hand rose in a claw-like form, taking a swipe at her head. Umi ducked in time, but just barely, seeing a few strands of hair fall in front of her face. She planted her foot firmly on the ground, turning it at the same time as she used both chakrams in an uppercut motion.

Lurcada stumbled back a few feet, her black blood staining the floor. A giant gash oozed from her armpit, trailing to her collarbone and making a sudden turn up her neck and slicking a good chunk of the right side of her face. Umi smirked at her handy work, but frowned almost instantly. "Muhuhuhuhu!" Lurcada chuckled quietly at first, her hand still covering the gash on her face. She suddenly stood tall, laughing hard and showing Umi the amusement in her remaining eye, "Mahahahaha! Mahaha!" After a few good laughs, she stopped almost suddenly and gave Umi an ugly frown with no amusement, "Aah~" She sighed, "Now look at what you've done. I guess it only serves me right for underestimating you! Muhu!" She rose her left hand and snapped her fingers. Some of the corpses that stood in the background, broke down into black dust and floating over towards Lurcada. "It's a good thing I have a few of these guys lying around today," She absorbed them, the dust settling into her flesh and healing her wounds. Once the gash closed, and her eye repaired, the dust settled. She placed a hand on her hip triumphantly and walked forward calmly, certain that Umi wasn't going to attack a second time. She stopped at arms length, reached out and fiddled with Umi's interesting hair pattern, "Is this dyed? Surely it can't be natural. It's so odd that only the lower half is a lovely shade of aqua."

"It's dyed," She confirmed, tense at the sudden contact.

"Is it just growing out, or did you purposely leave the roots their natural color?"

"I did it on purpose," She answered impatiently, "What is your sudden infatuation with my hair?" She yelled defensively.

"I was only curious," She retracted her hand, "Why are you so determined all of a sudden? You didn't seem like the fighting type just a moment ago. What changed your mind?"

Umi continued to glare, "I don't have to explain myself to you."

Lurcada smirked, finding her own answer. She leaned down, draping an arm over Umi's shoulder and hovered close to Umi's ear. She whispered something only Umi could hear with amusement. Umi gasped and swung a chakram at the woman who anticipated the attack and dodged it with ease.

"Mahahaha! Don't be so serious! I was only teasing! But, unexpectedly, that seems to be my answer," She grinned triumphantly.

"You're wrong." Umi argued. The other woman lifted up a filed nail to her mouth in question, "Something like that...it's impossible. I lost that basic human emotion long ago."

"Then why do you fight? Hmm? What is it that keeps you going in this world? I've been alive a long time and I've learned that people need things like that to survive. Whether it's for money, power, people, or vanity objects, people need it. What is it that keeps you alive, if you've really lost such an important part of humanity?" She was eager to hear the answer.

Umi's body tensed at the question. Searching, trying to remember, how she ended up like she did. There were only snippets of memories flashing into her mind, all of them made her sad; not the ones she was searching for. Finally the back of a blond-haired teen stood before her in her mind like looking through a old camera lense that made images blurry and gave the distinct sound of static. His face turned half way, his eyes hidden behind his untamed hair, he muttered. _I'm sorry_. The last words he ever spoke to her echoed in her mind; A familiar ache in her chest rose to her throat, begging to be shouted. She clenched the chakrams painfully, beginning to shake. The image of him made her blood boil. She didn't entirely remember at this point, but she couldn't stop the rising anger. "Why do I live?" Her voice shook. Her head snapped up, showing everyone the infinite fury in her eyes, "For revenge!" Before Lurcada could react quick enough, Umi used one of the chakrams to slice her arm right off. She cursed to herself and jumped away, "I won't let myself die until I choke the life out of him with my bare hands!" Umi swung left and right like a madman, laughing each time she cut the woman.

Lurcada cursed. Something strange was happening. That crazed, lunatic of a girl shouldn't have been able to use the blades infused with Romi's resistance. Each new cut, stayed a permanent cut that her magic refused to heal. She began to panic, desperately searching for a way out of this situation. Her eyes caught a blur of red at the opposite end of the room. She turned her eyes back to Umi, deciding if it was really worth it. Umi continued to hop around, swinging the chakrams with a full-toothed grin and laughing at Lurcada's distress. Lurcada's eyes hardened with her decision. She pushed herself towards her new target in desperation, Umi close behind her.

Lurcarda grinned triumphantly as her fingers grabbed hold of the small tube left on a coffee table in the corner. She turned to face Umi, "S-stop!" She grinned seeing Umi stop suddenly at the sight of Lurcada's thumb hovering over a red button. Her arms were still raised in a frozen attack and her face was inches away from the pink-haired woman's. "Good. Now do as I say, or I'll blow us all to bits. I'm sure you don't intend to take back your precious _nakama_ in nothing but burnt and charred remains."

Umi lowered her weapons and backed away, allowing Lurcada to stand upright, her eyes shadowed over by the action of lowering her head. Lurcada smirked and was about to open her mouth to speak, but Umi lifted her head, locking eyes with the woman. She grinned, showing off all of her teeth, "Just kidding~" She sang and charged at Lurcada once more, slicing her torso in half.

Lurcada's pale fingers strained to press the button, finally, and winced at the lack of feeling from her lower half. A faint 'beeping' sound was heard and not two seconds later, the room exploded. First they saw orange flames, licking at the ground and disintegrating dust, then the whiteness of the high temperatures. They felt a burning sensation and then...nothing.

* * *

A hooded figure stood near a window, black robes pooling onto the floor. The white mask on his face keeping every emotion hidden from all who gazed upon it. His eyes remained focused on the second floor of the castle, while he stood atop the fourth floor. He watched as the room exploded in a torrent of flames, roaring up at him. The inferno spewed out bodies left and right from the shock wave, spreading them out in opposite directions.

"It would seem Lurcada failed to eliminate the problem," He spoke, "Hmm...I don't suppose perhaps one of them was able to wield those weapons after all?"

Behind him an orange-haired Jackllinh knelt and bowed her head in respect. One hand balled into a fist and touched its knuckles to the cold ground, the other crossed her chest in a more traditional bow. Next to her, stood a taller man with an upright and clean appearance. He bowed at the waist, crossing only his arm over his chest in and not kneeling.

His fading brown eyes rose to meet his master's question, "Simply out of the question, sir. It has been one-hundred and thirteen years and still none have showed signs of being able to handle the power of the Kokra family heirlooms. Even when the kingdom was whole and lively, it had been many a year since the blades have chosen a master. No, subordinate Lurcada was simply weak." He gave his opinion and added an afterthought, "Also, if I'm not mistaken, these are just another group of pirates, probably after the gold. I'm certain Crysteine will be rid of them by the end of the day."

"Of that, I have no doubt. Crysteine is one of my finest!" The robbed man spoke with confidence, "However, I do not find delight in all those _mongrels _strutting about my castle. Find any survivors and be rid of them," He waved them to begone, "Oh and alert the others as well."

They nodded and rushed out of the room, the man in search of the nearest den den mushi and Jackllinh in search of her new prey.

* * *

**A/N: Hm...I seem to be out of things to say after chapters now days...Has anyone noticed a particular theme yet? There's actually two, but one of them I think is a bit subtle, although it might still be too early to tell since I haven't revealed all the characters full names yet.**

**I don't have much else to add. I'm actually kind of depressed. It's mother's day and I can't afford a gift worth squat. I know my mom doesn't care, as long as I remember and appreciate her, but it's more of a blow to my pride that I can't afford a gift for her, let alone the other 4 moms I know personally. Or even people's birthdays n whatnot. ugh. But I'll get over it I guess.  
**

**LOVE YALL!  
**


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